"Uddhav Thackeray abandoned Balasaheb's ideology for greed of CM's chair," Eknath Shinde said.
In an all-out attack on his former party chief-turned-rival, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today accused Uddhav Thackeray of doing "dogli rajneeti" (double-faced politics) and alleged that his predecessor was plotting an attack on his house while pretending to be making a peace offer for his return to the Shiv Sena after they split nearly two years ago.
Mr Shinde, who now heads the "real" Shiv Sena, also said Uddhav Thackeray was totally opposite to the party founder Balasaheb Thackeray and was only interested in furthering his self-interest, unlike his father who always stood by his party's workers and never went back on his words.
In an exclusive interview with Press Trust of India at his residence, Mr Shinde said that "Uddhav Thackeray abandoned Balasaheb's ideology for the greed of the chief minister's chair when he broke ties with the BJP to join hands with the Congress".
"We are the real Shiv Sena and taking forward Balasaheb's vision of Hindutva and the state's development," he said.
Uddhav Tkacheray's outfit cannot be called a "Hindutva" party as they joined hands with the Congress which insults Savarkar and they cannot even refer to Balasaheb as "Hindu Hriday Samrat" anymore, he said.
Asked whether Uddhav Thackeray called him to come back and offered him the chief minister's post after his rebellion in June 2022, Mr Shinde said, "He sent an emissary to me and while that person was talking to me, he announced he was throwing me out of the party."
"He (Uddhav) was holding a meeting where they called for burning my effigy, attacking my house, those sorts of things were happening. These meetings were happening when they had supposedly sent people to talk to me. 'Dogli rajneeti, chehre pe alag, pet mein alag, honthon pe alag (This is double-faced politics, something on the face and something totally opposite behind it)'," the Chief Minister said.
"Balasaheb was something else. He will say whatever he has to say and he will never go back on his words. Whatever he would say once, will become cast in iron. There can't be another Balasaheb Thackeray," he added.
The 60-year-old Shiv Sena leader, who became the chief minister soon after parting ways with Uddhav Thackeray and with the support of the BJP, said that when assembly elections happened in 2019, the people's mandate was for the BJP-Shiv Sena government.
"But he (Uddhav) abandoned the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray for the greed of the chief minister's chair. We are now taking forward Balasaheb's ideology and that forms the foundation of this government. The work we are doing, so many major schemes we have launched, development is the main agenda for all of that and that is the real agenda of the Shiv Sena and that is what Balasaheb had dreamed of," he said.
He also said that Uddhav Thackeray's outfit can't be called a "Hindutva" party.
"They have abandoned Balasaheb's ideology, they have joined hands with the Congress which insults Savarkar. They can't speak a single word for Savarkar now as their lips have been sealed by their partners. They have forgotten to speak about Hindutva now. They have forgotten Balasaheb's slogan, 'Garv se kaho, hum Hindu Hain'. They don't even refer to Balasaheb as 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' anymore. They have abandoned Hindutva as well as the ideology of Balasaheb," he said.
Mr Shinde said Balasaheb was always against the Congress and he always used to say he would never join hands with the Congress. But Uddhav Thackeray has done exactly what Balasaheb didn't want to do, he said.
Asked about Udhhav Thackeray's statement that BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, former chief minister and now Shinde's deputy CM, had promised to groom Aditya Thackeray as a chief minister, Shinde said this is a new "jumla".
"First he claimed Amit Shah told him he will get 2.5 years as chief minister. The talk happened behind closed doors. If he had to take that 2.5 years, then when Fadnavis was telephoning him for a meeting, he didn't take a single call after 50 odd calls. That shows he did not want to sit out. Had he sat with the BJP, he would have got 2.5 years later if there was a commitment but he wanted it first. Since he was not interested, that's why he joined hands with the Congress and the NCP," he said.
On his experience of working with both Balasaheb and Uddhav Thackeray, Mr Shinde said, "Balasaheb was a great person with great thinking and ideology. He was the one who would stand behind his party workers. He had a great vision for the development of the country and of the state, as also for taking forward Hindutva."
"Udhhav is completely the opposite. He is only interested in furthering his own self-interest, he has nothing to do with the party or party workers. Despite having a chief minister of Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena was going downhill, and MLAs were not getting funds. What face they will show to the people?" Mr Shinde asked.
"Everyone was worried. Party workers were going to jail despite him being chief minister. What does all this mean? Shiv Sena was totally going down," he claimed. "His ideas are totally different from that of Balasaheb," Mr Shinde added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)