Had Bal Thackeray been around, Uddhav would not have become CM: Narayan Rane

Union minister Narayan Rane. File Pic

Union minister Narayan Rane on Thursday said that Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray would not have become Maharashtra Chief Minister with the support of Congress and NCP had his father Bal Thackeray been alive.

Speaking to Mumbai Tak, a Marathi news channel, Rane, a former Shiv Sena leader who is now with the BJP, also said that Uddhav Thackeray does not have "political acumen".

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"Balasaheb (Bal Thackeray) would have never made him chief minister by letting him join hands with the Congress and the NCP. His party won only 56 seats (out of 288) in the 2019 Assembly polls," said Rane.

Had Bal Thackeray wanted, he could have made Uddhav Thackeray chief minister in 1999 itself, but he did not do so (and instead made Rane chief minister after Manohar Joshi's exit), the BJP leader said.

Eknath Shinde, the current chief minister who rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray's leadership last June, was a hardcore Shiv Sena worker and committed to the Sena's ideology, Rane said.

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