'I made rickshaw pullers, pan shopkeepers ministers...' Aditya Thackeray's remarks spark Controversy

Maharashtra Tourism Minister and CM Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray landed in a soup after his remark, apparently meant to demean the rebel Shiv Sena leaders, sparked a massive controversy. According to a Catch News report, Thackeray, who has been at the forefront of the Shiv Sena amid the ongoing political rebellion, on Monday said that he regrets making ‘rickshaw pullers, paan sellers’ ministers of the state. "Many people told us that Congress and NCP will betray us but our people betrayed us. Many MLAs who were watchmen, rickshaw drivers, and paan shopkeepers - we made them Ministers. On 20th May, Uddhav Thackeray offered him (Eknath Shinde) the CM post and he did drama," ANI quoted Aaditya Thackeray as saying.

The statement is believed to be an evident dig at the rebel MLAs leader Eknath Shinde who drove an auto-rickshaw before joining politics. Shinde initiated the rebellion within Shiv Sena after he along with other dissenting ministers camped outside Maharashtra against the MVA alliance.

The rebel MLAs are demanding that the Shiv Sena rearranges its alliance with the BJP.

However, BJP has vehemently denied any involvement in the political crisis.

Aditya Thackeray’s BIG claim

Meanwhile, Thackeray has made another big claim that 15-20 rebel MLAs are in touch with him and urging the Shiv Sena to get them back from Guwahati. He claimed that many of these MLAs were kidnapped and are forced to protest against the party as they are being kept in prisoner-like situations.

Around 15-20 MLAs are in touch with us. Their situation is like that of a prisoner. They call me and Shiv Sainiks and urged us to bring them back from Guwahati,  PTI quoted Thackeray as saying.

Shiv Sena rebellion

A majority of the Sena MLAs, including nine ministers, have rebelled against the party, threatening the existence of the two-and-a-half-year-old government. Eknath Shinde has claimed the support of more than three dozen Sena MLAs out of the total 55.