CM Shinde retorts at Uddhav’s ‘contractor CM’ jibe, says ‘have taken contract to ensure Maharashtra’s development and take late Balasaheb Thackeray ideals forward’

Shinde faction Sena MLAs step up attack on Aaditya Thackeray on last day of Assembly session

@the_news_21

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister and rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Thursday launched a scathing attack against Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, remarking that he had taken a contract of taking forward (late Sena chief) Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideals and ensuring the State’s development.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said this while addressing the Legislative Assembly on the closing day of the monsoon session of the State Legislature. Taking on the Thackeray camp’s jibes he remarked that his breakaway faction of 50 MLAs was sitting in the House after following due Constitutional procedure and having proved a majority in the floor test.

The Chief Minister retorted, “I have been called a ‘contractor CM.’ Yes, I am a contactor CM and I have taken a contract for ensuring Maharashtra’s development, a contract to make this State more prosperous and to give justice to the poor and the backward sections, and I have taken contract of taking Balasaheb’s (Uddhav’s late father Balasaheb Thackeray) ideals forward.”

Referring to the Uddhav camp’s frequent taunts that Shinde was nothing but “a puppet of the BJP” who repeatedly conferred with the BJP brass in New Delhi, Shinde said the object of his visits was to ensure the State’s development. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured that there will be no shortage of funds for Maharashtra,” revealed Shinde.

On August 24, former CM Uddhav Thackeray dubbed Shinde a “CM by contract” while hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for ‘stealing’ from other parties. Shinde’s intra-party revolt in June had toppled Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government, propelling the Shinde-led Sena faction and the BJP to power in the State.

Matching in-step with Shinde’s verbal assault, the rebel Sena MLAs stepped up their attack on Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray, who has been touring the State in order to shore-up the partys sagging fortunes of the Uddhav Thackeray camp and reinforce the Thackeray family’s grip over the party rank-and-file.

Earlier, before the start of the session, the rebel Sena MLAs, who had said they would never target the Thackeray family following their revolt, were seen holding placards aggressively mocking the younger Thackeray.

Aaditya Thackeray has been lashing out at the rebel MLAs by calling them “traitors” who had sold themselves (to the BJP) for Rs. 50 crore each, was at the receiving end with the rebels holding placards showing Thackeray scion wrongly seated on a horse.

The slogan read that “the prince (Aaditya Thackeray) has missed his path”.

Since the beginning of the Assembly session, the Thackeray faction has raised slogans about rebels receiving “Rs 50-crore bribe” from the BJP to defect, and that they did so because of the fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Chief whip of the Shinde camp Bharat Gogawale remarked, “We have tolerated this (Uddhav camp’s taunts) since the beginning of the Assembly session. Now, we too shall protest.”