Without taking the name of Thackeray, Kesarkar said, 'the rebels are consistently called traitors, but one must not forget that the post of chief ministership was achieved because of these MLAs itself. Was there a promise given to Eknath Shinde to make him chief minister?'
Deepak Kesarkar. Pic/ official twitter account
Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar on Monday asked Uddhav Thackeray to clarify if the latter had promised the post of chief minister to Eknath Shinde earlier.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has maintained the party broke its alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party post the 2019 Assembly polls as the latter had refused to act on its "promise" of sharing the chief ministerial tenure equally.
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Without taking the name of Thackeray, Kesarkar said, "the rebels are consistently called traitors, but one must not forget that the post of chief ministership was achieved because of these MLAs itself. Was there a promise given to Eknath Shinde to make him chief minister?"
Kesarkar, without giving details of when such a promise was made or who made it, went on to add that "had (party founder) Balasaheb (Thackeray) been alive, he would have stuck to his promise".
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Kesarkar claimed several MLAs had approached Uddhav Thackeray immediately after the rebellion by Shinde began and legislators started moving to neighbouring Gujarat in June and had asked the then chief minister to save the party.
"However, we were told we are free to go if we wish go join Shinde," Kesarkar claimed.
The minister also said the Bharatiya Janata Party had extended support to the Sena unconditionally during the 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls.
Had the BJP not done so, "not even 10 MLAs of Sena could have won the next Assembly elections", Kesarkar asserted.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government under Thackeray fell on June 29 after a rebellion by Shinde, who was sworn in as CM with BJP leader Decendra Fadnavis as his deputy the next day.
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