Lok Sabha elections 2024: Uddhav contacted Devendra Fadnavis as well as me after his govt faced crisis, says CM Shinde

CM Eknath Shinde. File Pic

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday claimed that Uddhav Thackeray had reached out to him and offered the chief minister's post after his rebellion plunged the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state in a crisis in 2022, reported the PTI.

CM Eknath Shinde also termed as correct the claim made by deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis that Uddhav Thackeray, then chief minister, had contacted the BJP leader too and offered the top post, as per the PTI.

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The Uddhav Thackeray government collapsed in June 2022 after CM Shinde and the majority of Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against the party leadership.

"There is truth to the claim as they made these efforts when we decided to leave. They (Thackeray and his associates) also called me and offered the CM's post, but I had not taken the decision to be the chief minister then. We left because they had deviated from Shiv Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology," Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde told reporters in Nashik district of Maharashtra, as per the PTI.

CM Shinde was replying to a question about Devendra Fadnavis's claim that Uddhav Thackeray had offered him the chief minister's post after CM Shinde rebelled and the MVA government was about to fall. Uddhav Thackeray had parted ways with the BJP earlier in 2019 and formed government with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.

"They also made efforts in Delhi, saying the entire Shiv Sena will be with them (BJP) and asked BJP leaders not to take only some people (i.e., Shinde and his supporters) in their fold. But by then, 50 people (MLAs) were already with me. What Devendra ji has said has truth to it," CM Shinde said, the PTI reported on Thursday.

Asked for comment, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sachin Ahir questioned the time chosen by CM Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis to make these claims.

"They are making such statements after two years only to create confusion," he said, the news agency reported.

Mahayuti seat-sharing deal almost final; announcement on Palghar seat awaited

The ruling Mahayuti coalition comprising of the Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the BJP and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra has almost sealed the seat-sharing deal for Lok Sabha elections 2024. However, the announcement for the Palghar seat is awaited, the PTI reported on Thursday.

With the seat-sharing deal almost sealed, it brings clarity over 47 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

BJP will mostly likely get the remaining Palghar seat, said insiders from the saffron party and the CM Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

(with PTI inputs)