MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday alleged that Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde poached six of his party's Lok Sabha MPs at the behest of Union Home Minister Amit Shah as part of a larger conspiracy to weaken Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' prospects of emerging as the BJP's prime ministerial face in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Criticising the six MPs who quit Shiv Sena (UBT) to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Uddhav claimed they were deliberately inducted into Shinde's party instead of the BJP because there was a "larger conspiracy" behind the move.
"With the six MPs, Shah's Sena has more MPs than the BJP in Maharashtra. Eknath Shinde carried out the so-called Operation Tiger, but in reality, it was Operation Devendra Fadnavis. RSS is supporting Devendra Fadnavis as its face for the PM in 2029, but there is a conspiracy by Amit Shah, and Eknath Shinde is helping him cut to size Mr Fadnavis and eliminate him from the race for PM. Shinde is working as a spoilsport for Mr Fadnavis," Uddhav claimed.
He said Shiv Sena (UBT) had no objection to Fadnavis being projected as a prime ministerial candidate because he represented the "Marathi manoos" and allegedly enjoyed the RSS' support.
"Earlier, Nitin Gadkari's name was discussed as the PM face, but his image was deliberately and systematically tarnished, and now he is no more in the PM race. Now Mr Fadnavis' name has been discussed in the PM race, but Shinde is working at the behest of Amit Shah to damage Fadnavis and foil his prospects. Shah knows that if the RSS backs Fadnavis, then he would lose his chances to become the PM. Therefore, he is using Shinde to cripple Fadnavis' chances.
"The Marathi manoos is working against the Marathi manoos. We hope Mr Fadnavis and the RSS learn some lessons from it. We would be happy if Mr Fadnavis' name gets declared for the PM's post and every Marathi manoos will support him except traitors," Uddhav said.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief said he was "really worried" about Fadnavis' political future and cited the example of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.
"Mr Rao used to get elected from Maharashtra's Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency before becoming Prime Minister. But after he was chosen as PM, instead of contesting from Maharashtra, he went to his home state of Andhra Pradesh. The regional party led by N T Rama Rao did not field a candidate against him even though it opposed the Congress because Mr Rao was from Andhra Pradesh and had become Prime Minister.
"But here we are seeing something different. BJP alliance partners, who are junior to Fadnavis, are working against their own leader," he said.