On Friday, Shiv Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh alleged that while BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was aware of the plan to overthrow the MVA government, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had already decided a month earlier that Eknath Shinde would be appointed as the chief minister. He made these comments during the party’s podcast series named “Awaz Kunchana”.
In June of the previous year, Deshmukh, along with other MLAs from the Shinde faction, had initially travelled to Guwahati but eventually returned and reunited with the Uddhav Thackeray faction.
“Devendra Fadnavis said he suggested Eknath Shinde’s name for chief minister. That’s not true. One month before the transfer of power we knew Shinde would become the CM. Shinde and Home Minister Amit Shah decided Shinde would be the CM,” Deshmukh said, reported TOI.
Deshmukh revealed that the plans to topple the MVA government had already started six to seven months after Uddhav Thackeray became the Chief Minister. He claimed that the party got a hint of this but only expected around 20 to 22 MLAs to split up, adding that they thought this would have almost no effect on the former ruling MVA government.
Revealing that all the senior leaders were already with Eknath Shinde, Deshmukh said that Gulabrao Patil claimed that he joined hands with the Shinde faction later, “but it was not like that”. He mentioned that the strategy had been in motion for more than two years, and both Kailas Patil and he were unsure of how to communicate the Shinde faction's plan to Uddhav Thackeray.