Amit Shah asks party cadre to teach a lesson to Uddhav faction in BMC election

Mr. Shah reiterated that there was no closed-door promise of equally sharing the CM’s post between the two estranged saffron allies.

Upping the ante against Uddhav Thackeray and his Shiv Sena faction ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) poll, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday lashed out at the Sena president, accusing Mr. Thackeray of deceiving the BJP during Sena-BJP alliance in the past, while exhorting his party cadre to teach the Thackeray faction a lesson in the upcoming civic body election.

Mr. Shah, along with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, addressed BJP office bearers and MLAs in a closed meeting at the ‘ Meghdoot’ in South Mumbai’s.

Squarely pinning the blame on Mr. Thackeray for having ruptured the longstanding ties between the BJP and the Shiv Sena in the past, Mr. Shah said that the only reason the Sena became the ‘smaller party’ in Maharashtra during its alliance with BJP was due to “Mr. Thackeray’s arrogance.”

“The BJP has never made the ‘bigger brother-smaller brother’ comment. It is your [Uddhav’s] arrogance that is responsible for the Sena being the smaller party today. In 2014, Uddhav Thackeray had broken the alliance with the BJP for the sake of a mere two seats [during the seat-sharing negotiations],” said the Home Minister.

Mr. Shah reiterated that there was no closed-door promise of equally sharing the CM’s post between the two estranged saffron allies.

“In 2019, Mr. Thackeray and the Sena had sought votes in the name of PM Narendra Modi and Devendra Fadnavis [then CM candidate of the BJP-Sena coalition]. It was decided that CM would be from BJP [Mr. Fadnavis]. But later, Uddhav Thackeray betrayed us and backstabbed the BJP by allying with the NCP and the Congress so that he could become CM… I am witness to the entire chronology. There was no power-sharing deal,” he said, adding that the BJP does not do such deals behind closed rooms.

Serious fault-lines in the BJP-Sena alliance had first emerged after the two long-standing allies of more than 25 years decided to independently contest the 2014 Assembly election. Bickering over seat-sharing arrangements coupled with PM Modi’s ascendancy at the Centre had led to this schism.