Maharashtra Minister and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday said the Shiv Sena will not forget the betrayal done by the party's rebel MLAs. He asserted that the party led by his father and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will come out victorious from the ongoing political crisis.
"You already know what was discussed in the meeting, the important thing is that we will not forget the betrayal done by rebel Shiv Sena MLAs. We (Shiv Sena) will win for sure," said Aaditya Thackeray.
Meanwhile, as rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde named their group "Shiv Sena Balasaheb" amid the ongoing tussle with the Uddhav Thackeray faction, the Maharashtra Chief Minister said that the former faction can take their own decisions but no one should use Balasaheb Thackeray's name.
Addressing party leaders during the national executive committee meeting in the Shiv Sena Bhawan, Thackeray said, "Some people are asking me to say something but I've already said that they(rebel MLAs) can do whatever they want to do, I won't interfere in their matters. They can take their own decision, but no one should use Balasaheb Thackeray's name."
Reacting to this, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar said the legislators who are camping in Guwahati's Radisson Blu Hotel will go out to court if their faction "Shiv Sena Balasaheb" isn't given recognition.
"Recognition should be given to our faction, if it isn't given, we'll go to court & prove our existence & numbers. We've numbers, but we respect CM Uddhav Thackeray, we won't speak against him. We must follow the path on which we fought Assembly elections," said Kesarkar.
The rebel MLA asserted that the faction led by Eknath Shinde "is still in Shiv Sena" and that they "are not merging with any other party".
"We are still in Shiv Sena, there's misunderstanding that we've left the party. We've just separated our faction. We've 2-3rd majority to follow the path we wanted. Our new leader chosen by majority. They didn't have more than 16-17 MLAs," Kesarkar said. "There's no need to merge, our faction will be given different recognition and we aren't merging with any other party," he added.
Kesarkar further said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) isn't behind their rebellion. "No party is paying for our expenses (of hotel accommodation), our leader Eknath Shinde called us and we came and stayed here (Guwahati hotel); will pay the expenses. BJP isn't behind all of this," he said.
