Mumbai: More than 14 months after the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress joined hands to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, Union Home Minister Amit Shah broke his silence on the subject, saying that during his term as BJP chief, he had not made any promise to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray about 50:50 sharing of the chief minister’s post after the 2019 assembly elections. Shah slammed the Shiv Sena and blamed it for abandoning principles to grab power. “Had the BJP had followed in your path when Devendra Fadnavis was chief minister, your party (Shiv Sena) would not have survived,’’ claimed Shah.
Reacting sharply to Shah's criticism, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut tweeted, "In 1975, Rajni Patel and in the 90s, similarly, (I guess Murli Doera) said that Shiv Sena would be wiped off ..Again in 2012 Prithviraj Chavan said the same thing and on both occasions, the Shiv Sena came up stronger than before! Jai Maharashtra."
Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the SSPM Medical College at Kudal, in Sindhudurg, founded by a trust chaired by former Maharashtra chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narayan Rane.
“It is said that I made a promise in a room. I have never done politics behind closed doors. I am a man who lives in public. Assuming that I had promised, Uddhavji was campaigning using a picture of PM Narendra Modi's photo that was two-and-a-half times bigger than his and had sought votes in the name of Modiji,’’ Shah noted. He said PM Modi addressed election rallies and he and Uddhav Thackeray too had jointly held poll rallies seeking votes for the BJP-Sena government, to be formed with Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister.
“Why didn't they (Thackeray) speak at that time? They are in power after having dumped Balasaheb Thackeray’s principles in the river. When Article 370 was abrogated, they (Shiv Sena) received it with fear. After the decision to construct Ram Mandir, they say they would go, would not go. What happened? We were never scared. The BJP has been in politics for principles and not to make principles for politics,’’ said Shah.
Further, said Shah, “In Bihar, we fought elections. We had promised that if the NDA government would return, Nitish Kumar would be the chief minister. Even though we got more seats, we made Nitish Kumar the CM. I would like to remind them that we are a people who keep our word.''
Shah reminded the Shiv Sena that elections were held in Maharashtra when he was the BJP president. ‘’We had contested the elections under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis. But then a three-wheeler government came into existence in Maharashtra. The three wheels move in different directions. This government has failed on every front. I have come today to tell the people of Maharashtra that the Shiv Sena-led government was formed here in defiance of the mandate you had given. The mandate was for Modiji and the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Devendraji,’’ he averred.
