New Delhi: Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has hit out at Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena rebels and compared them to "rotten leaves" of a tree. In a pre-recorded interview with Sena's mouthpiece 'Saamana', which was aired on Tuesday (July 26, 2022), he also said that it was a "mistake" that he trusted some of the party leaders "too much".


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"These rebels are like rotten leaves of a tree and should be shed. It is good for the tree as there will be new leaves," the Shiv Sena chief said.


During a 36-minute-long interview with Saamana's Executive Editor and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Thackeray also reacted to the claim of rebel leaders that they represent the "real Shiv Sena" and said that let there be elections and see whom people choose.


"The people we will either vote for us or support them. It will be clear once and for all," the former Maharashtra CM said.


"Looks like I put too much trust in some Sena workers and leaders. It is my mistake to have trusted them for such a long time," he answered when asked who could be blamed for the rebellion.



Thackeray alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not only trying to break the Shiv Sena but also trying to appropriate great leaders of other parties.


"The way they tried to appropriate Sardar Patel from the Congress, they are doing the same thing with my late father, Balasaheb Thackeray, who founded the Shiv Sena," he claimed.


"Looks like these people are not trustworthy. They are basically causing infighting among Sena workers," he added.


Rebels 'betrayed' Shiv Sena when I was fighting for life in hospital


Uddhav Thackeray said that when he was critical and battling for life in a hospital for his spinal issues, the rebels actively hatched a conspiracy to topple the Maharashtra government. During his hospitalisation in November 2021 for his neck and spine problems, the Sena chief had undergone two surgeries in a space of a week.


"This was the time when I had entrusted them (Eknath Shinde) as the No. 2, to look after the party... When I needed them most, they were busy hatching a plot to bring me down. This painful truth will remain with me for my entire life...," Thackeray said.


"You killed that trust and betrayed the faith to handle the party during my absence," Uddhav said in an apparent attack on Shinde.


MVA alliance was worth a try in politics


Talking about the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, an alliance of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, and Congress in Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray said that it was "worth a try" in politics.


"Had it been a wrong step according to people, they would have risen against our alliance. We had respect for each other in the Maha Vikas Aghadi," the Shiv Sena president said.



Last month, the Thackeray-led MVA government collapsed after Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators rebelled against the party leadership.


Shinde was later sworn in as the chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.