Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that Deputy CM Eknath Shinde is lying over his 'had Uddhav Thackeray not become CM, the Shiv Sena would not have split' remark. Shiv Sena UBT Chief Uddhav Thackeray wanted him to become CM of Maharashtra. He made these remarks while addressing reporters on February 19.
Sanjay Raut said, “Eknath Shinde is not right. Uddhav Thackeray wanted Eknath Shinde to be the CM of Maharashtra. We had a 50-50 power sharing agreement with the BJP. According to this agreement, the BJP had promised to give Shiv Sena the CM post after 2.5 years. If the BJP had fulfilled its promise, then Eknath Shinde would have become the CM.”
He further mentioned that other political party leaders did not agree to make Shinde CM. He said, “When the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was formed, leaders like Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar and Congress leaders opposed the name of Eknath Shinde. They opined that he was very junior and that we can't work with him. Eknath Shinde is absolutely lying.”
Eknath Shinde said on February 17 that Uddhav Thackeray was tempted by the chair of CM and everything ended. If he had not become the Chief Minister, the Shiv Sena party would not have split. What did he gain? Who wanted to become the Chief Minister? You have started considering your colleagues as servants. Balasaheb Thackeray used to consider his colleagues as relatives.
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"We did not eye the chair. We looked for the problems of people. We looked for the questions of people. I never demanded a post and did not compromise. We took this decision to carry forward Balasaheb's thoughts," said Eknath Shinde.
Eknath Shinde claimed to have established an administration in the state that reflected the views of the general populace.