Uddhav Thackeray had planned to make Eknath Shinde the Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the 2019 election, but he was foiled – first by ally BJP and then the allies of Maha Vikas Aghadi, senior Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut has said.  Among then MVA, he especially named veteran leader Sharad Pawar, saying he had objected to Mr Shinde.

“Shinde wanted to become CM, but top leaders of the MVA refused to work under him as he was junior to them,” Mr Raut was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India. “It was Sharad Pawar, then president of the Nationalist Congress Party, and Ajit Pawar who opposed the plan to make Shinde chief minister,” he added.

As for the BJP, “The BJP did not fulfil the promise of sharing the CM’s post with the Shiv Sena, that was why Shinde lost the chance to head the government,” Mr Raut said.

The BJP’s refusal led to a massive political churning. Mr Thackeray broke off the party’s decades-old alliance with the BJP and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with the Congress and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar. He also became the Chief Minister.

It was Mr Shinde’s rebellion two years later that split the Sena and brought down Uddhav Thackeray’s government. Mr Shinde joined hands with the BJP and formed government, becoming its Chief Minister. 

The two factions have been huge political rivals since and Mr Pawar’s recent praise of Mr Shinde at a recent event did not go down well with Mr Thackeray’s section.

He is now a deputy chief minister, along with Ajit Pawar who split the NCP a year later, in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government.

(With PTI)