"Never Demanded Chief Minister's Post": Eknath Shinde To NDTV

The Eknath Shinde government will have to prove its majority in the assembly today. The test, though, is expected to be a formality.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who formed the government with BJP support amid row with former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on who controls the Shiv Sena, reiterated on Sunday that the rebellion against Mr Thackeray was due to ideological differences with the alliance partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government that Shiv Sena was part of. During the exclusive interview to NDTV, Mr Shinde also reiterated that he "never demanded" the top post. The Eknath Shinde government will have to prove its majority in the assembly today. The test, though, is expected to be a formality.

"I have never demanded the Chief Minister post. It was a matter of ideology, of Balasaheb's Hindutva. Party workers were very upset with the Maha Vikas Aghadi. MLAs were upset too. They couldn't do any development work because of the internal problems in Maha Vikas Aghadi," Mr Shinde told NDTV.

Mr Shinde added that the BJP showed a "big heart" by offering the Chief Minister's post to him.

"Everyone thought that the BJP is supporting us to come to power in the state. People were also anticipating that they will take the Chief Minister post same. Although they had 115 MLAs, they offered the top post to us despite only 50 MLAs backing us," he said.