Uddhav Thackeray victim of betrayal, says Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati

Uddhav Thackeray. File Photo

Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand, who turned down the invitation to the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, said on Monday that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray is a victim of betrayal, according to PTI.

Speaking to the reporters after meeting Thackeray at his residence, Matoshree, in Bandra, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said, "Uddhav Thackeray has been betrayed and many people are anguished by it. I met him today as per his request and told him that people's pain won't subside till he becomes the chief minister again."

"He (Uddhav) said he would do whatever was needed as per our blessings," Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said.

As per the news agency report, he said betrayal is the biggest sin, adding, "The one who betrays can't be a Hindu. The one who tolerates betrayal is a Hindu."

"The entire population of Maharashtra is anguished by the betrayal and this was reflected in the recent Lok Sabha elections," he said.

He added, "We don't have anything to do with politics, but we are talking about betrayal, which is a sin as per religion."

On the laying of the foundation stone of a Kedarnath temple in New Delhi on July 10 by Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the seer said, "When the address for Kedarnath is in the Himalayas, how can it be in Delhi? Why are you confusing the people?"

He added, "There are political reasons behind this. Political people are entering our religious places."

The Shankaracharya also attended a puja ceremony at Matoshree bungalow.

Senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi meets Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai

On Saturday, senior lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi reportedly met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai.

Singhvi is part of the legal team representing the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in the Supreme Court, where the party is seeking to disqualify members of the Eknath Shinde faction who rebelled against Thackeray in 2022, which split the party and led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

According to the PTI report, the Supreme Court on July 10 agreed to consider listing a plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction challenging Maharashtra legislative assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Shiv Sena bloc led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real political party" after its split in June 2022.

The speaker had also reportedly dismissed the disqualification petitions of the Thackeray faction against CM Shinde and his supporting MLAs.

(With inputs from PTI)