Uddhav Thackeray Takes ‘Outsiders Over Loyalists’ Dig At BJP; Cites NCP Split
Loyalists of BJP are being neglected and outsiders are being given preferences, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said taking a dig at the saffron party. Citing the example of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Thackeray said the BJP has inducted those against who the party had earlier levelled serious corruption charges.
“Loyalists in BJP who worked for the strengthening of the party are being neglected and outsiders are being given preferences… Recently Ajit Pawar was appointed as Pune guardian minister… it was the BJP who had made serious allegations against him and had said he is supposed to mill flour in the jail… Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi made allegations of ₹70,000 crore corruption against them… Did the BJP workers work so hard to lay the red carpet for outsiders,” Thackeray said at an event.
Maharashtra has been witnessing political upheaval, largely after the split within the Shiv Sena in 2022 when 39 MLAs loyalist to Eknath Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray, who was the then state CM, and eventually toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government. Shinde was then made the CM and formed the government in association with the BJP.
Both the UBT and Shinde factions have been grapppling to claim inheritence of party founder Bal Thackeray’s legacy before the upcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.
The state politics took another hit after Nationalist Congress Party’s Ajit Pawar, along with eight of his colleagues, joined the Eknath Shinde government this year and challenged the party patriarch Sharad Pawar.
Four out of nine NCP MLAs who joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government are under the scanner of the central investigating agency. Ajit Pawar is under probe in connection with money laundering charges.
Meanwhile, the depletion of both the Shiv Sena and the NCP raised questions over the effectiveness of the Maha Vikas Aghadi which had offered the BJP such stiff resistance since 2019.