Maharashtra state chief minister Eknath Shinde paid rich tribute to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and said he never compromised on his ideology to gain power.
According to a report of TOI, Bal Thackeray functioned as a remote control of the government (in 1995-99 when Sena-BJP combine was in power) but never used it for personal gains.
Shinde, chief of the breakaway Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, said the day was important as a government based on the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray has been formed and it was important for him that the portrait was unveiled when he was the chief minister.
Shinde added that he was a true leader who stood by his followers, and recalled that when his political guru Anand Dighe was arrested under TADA, Thackeray had reached out to then CM Sharad Pawar.