Uddhav Thackeray returned to Mumbai late Thursday evening (File)
Mumbai:
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray returned empty-handed from Delhi as he could not extract an assurance of being the MVA’s chief ministerial face for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls, the BJP said on Friday.
Mr Thackeray, during his three day visit to the national capital, met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, and Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge a day earlier. Mr Thackeray, who was accompanied by his wife Rashmi and son Aditya, returned to Mumbai late Thursday evening.
After three days in Delhi, Mr Thackeray had to return empty-handed though he was hoping to reclaim the chief minister’s post, BJP stat chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye told reporters here.
“Forget about anything for Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief could not get anything for himself. To fulfil his ambition of becoming chief minister, he continued to push his case in Delhi but has returned empty handed,” Mr Upadhye claimed.
Mr Thackeray was disappointed after senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan announced that a decision on the chief minister will be taken after the assembly polls, Mr Upadhye further claimed.
The Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) have announced they will fight the state polls together as the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
“The self esteem of Uddhav Thackeray and his Shiv Sena (UBT) has been shattered during his Delhi tour as the Congress sent a clear signal that it would be the ‘big brother’ in the seat allocation discussions,” Mr Upadhye said.
Then BJP president Amit Shah had visited Matoshree, Mr Thackeray’s residence in Bandra, out of sheer respect ahead of the 2019 assembly polls and agreed to give his party 125 seats, Upadhye said.
“But now you have to bow before the Congress to get 100 seats to contest. What did you get with your Delhi tour if you could not get even 100 seats,” the BJP leader said in a swipe at Thackeray.
The Mahayuti (ruling alliance) is making sincere efforts to resolve the quota issue in the state and citizens expected Thackeray to discuss it with senior MVA leaders during his Delhi tour, he said.
“However, this expectation was ruined. This shows Mr Thackeray was in Delhi for his personal political interest and not for Maharashtra or its people,” Mr Upadhye alleged.
Thackeray was chief minister between 2019 and June 2022 before a rebellion by then minister Eknath Shinde split the Shiv Sena and brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Mr Shinde went on to become CM with the support of the BJP. NCP leader Ajit Pawar joined the ruling alliance in July last year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
