Congress Maharashtra state president Harshwardhan Sapkal even claimed on Wednesday night that Eknath Shinde is afraid that the BJP plans to split his Sena and get his MLAs to join the BJP, even as Shinde was in Delhi, meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah the same evening.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief party spokesperson Sanjay Raut said here on Friday that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made an offer to Union Home Minister Amit Shah that he would merge his Shiv Sena with the BJP, if Shinde was made Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey counterattacked Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday by tweeting against Uddhav using his X handle, after Dubey was criticised by Uddhav Thackeray on Monday for his statements against Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, for allegedly encouraging attacks against Hindi-speaking migrants.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Thursday for an hour, sources said.
In an apparent attack at the Uddhav Thackeray faction, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who arrived in Ayodhya on Sunday, said that "some people" are allergic to Hindutva, saying only PM Modi has fulfilled Balasaheb Thackeray's dream of Ram Mandir.
In an emotionally charged speech, Shinde also mentioned how he never was there when his family needed him and devoted his entire life for politics.
The floor test sealed his position as Maharashtra's 20th CM and is the big legislative victory for the Shinde government who was sworn-in on June 30 as CM along with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, of the BJP.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's son and MNS president Amit Thackeray also slammed the Shinde-Fadnavis camp for the decision and said that he was shocked by the decision.
After an intense political drama of around ten days when Eknath Shinde finally won the battle ground and was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Mahrashtra he not only writes a new political story for the state but also drives home the point that politics is the game of unpredtables.
BJP's Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis made the announcement after calling on Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari along with CM-elect Shinde on Thursday afternoon.
