Rebels will have to pay the price for Shiv sainiks’ tears: Uddhav
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday warned that rebel Shiv Sena MLAs would have to pay a price for causing tears in the eyes of loyal Shiv sainiks, who find their party out of power.
The former chief minister was addressing hundreds of women functionaries of the Shiv Sena at party headquarters “Shiv Sena Bhavan” a day after 50 MLAs led by now CM Eknath Shinde joined hands with the BJP to win the floor test in the Legislative Assembly 164-99. “I have to navigate a difficult path between the perverted laughter in the eyes of traitors on one hand, and the tears glistening in the eyes of loyal Shiv sainiks like you on the other. But, I will find a way out of this, and they will have to pay the price for these tears,” said Thackeray. Women voters form a significant voter base of the Shiv Sena.
Thackeray pointed out that after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was formed with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), he was often warned to be careful of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his wily politics. “But, those were expected to betray me stayed firmly behind me, and those whom I trusted and left to run the government betrayed me,” he said, referring to the rebel MLAs as “traitors”. Thackeray had hitherto avoided using the “T-word” in his social media addresses and had even offered to leave the official CM residence-—Varsha bungalow—and resign as CM to make way for Shinde if the MVA government could continue.
Thackeray, who has been holding a series of meetings recently, pointed out that Fadnavis had snatched the mike from in front of Shinde to speak, at their joint press conference after the trust vote. “Today, he has whisked away the mike. Tomorrow we don’t know what all he will whisk away,” he quipped. The Sena Bhavan meeting was also attended by senior leaders Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Aaditya Thackeray. When asked about NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s appeal to NCP workers to be ready for mid-term polls, Aaditya said he also thought mid-term polls were possible in the near future.
