A day after a scathing attack by Thackeray camp chief Mr Uddhav Thackeray, the Chief Minister Mr Eknath Shinde, who heads the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, hit back saying that the people of Maharashtra will know where the money packed in refrigerator-size boxes in containers had gone and how that was digested.
Mr Shinde, who along with the legislators and ministers from his camp after taking the darshan of Kamakhya Devi left Guwahati for Mumbai, was replying to Mr Thackeray’s charge that the legislators took 50 ‘khoke’ (boxes full of money) to switch the loyalty.
‘’Whatever I do, I do it openly. Do not hide. Some people do this secretly. People will come to know about hidden works (of Thackeray). Everyone knows where the containers full of ‘’khoke’’ the size of a refrigerator had gone and they were digested thereafter. One day it will come before the people of the state,’’ warned Mr Shinde.
Mr Shinde, who along with the party ministers and legislators returned from Guwahati after fulfilling the vow to the Goddess Kamakhya, said the party spokesman and the school education minister Mr Deepak Kesarkar had already announced yesterday that he will tell the people of the state who took the ‘’khoke’’ without directly naming Mr Thackeray. ‘’Instead of criticising us, they (Mr Thackeray) should introspect. Their morale is down as they are making criticism out of depression as they are getting shocks one after another. They have not recovered from those shocks and that’s why they are making such statements,’’ he claimed.
Mr Shinde said that after the formation of Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra there has been a positive atmosphere in the state. People also have a good opinion about it.
Mr Shinde claimed that Mr Thackeray had been attacking them out of depression. The Shinde camp minister Mr Uday Samant also criticised his former boss and Mr Thackeray saying that ‘’Five months ago, we 40 MLAs were "tiger".We revolted. Hon. Eknath Shinde became Chief Minister. After that we became ‘’reda’’ (male buffalo). How irritating. I read somewhere that reda (male buffalo) is the vehicle of god of death.’’
Mr Shinde and Mr Samant were responding to Mr Thackeray’s statement that ‘’If you (rebel legislators) give 50 ‘’khoke’’ to farmers it will be good for them. However, there is no expectation from the Mindhe (Shinde) government. Even former minister Bachchu Kadu said that even if they go to someone's wedding, people talk about the ‘’khoke’’ but they will not be digested. Legislators defected as they were interested in ‘’khoke.’
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