After Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s claim that the government will collapse within 15 days, his party supremo Uddhav Thackeray claimed elections can take place in the state anytime now.Thackeray made the statement while addressing a public rally in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon just hours after Raut’s ‘’Shinde government will fall’’ remark.
“Elections can now take place at any time, even today, and we are prepared for the same. The matter is in Supreme Court, and we are hoping that the verdict will be in our favour. After that, anything can happen at any time," Thackeray said. In the same address, Thackeray also challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to issue a clarification on whether or not the party will contest elections under CM Eknath Shinde adding that the state BJP chief confirmed the Shinde-faction will be allotted only 48 seats out of total 288. For the unversed, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed the “death warrant" of the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has been issued and it will collapse in the next 15-20 days. Raut, a key leader of former CM Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), said his party was waiting for the court’s order and expecting justice will be done.The ruling faction of Shiv Sena (led by Shinde), however, responded by calling Raut a “fake astrologer" and said there are many such leaders in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) who make such predictions.