In New Videos, Uddhav Faction Mocks Shinde Camp After Nine NCP MLAs Join Maharashtra Govt

Ajit Pawar on Sunday led a vertical split in the NCP to become deputy chief minister in the one-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP government, shocking his uncle Sharad Pawar, who founded the outfit 24 years ago after quitting the Congress.

Pune: In the wake of nine NCP leaders joining the Maharashtra government, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has taken a dig at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led bloc with a video of statements of its leaders to show how they had blamed the NCP for trying to destroy the Shiv Sena. The video, titled "What say now" and posted on a social media handle of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction, has pieced together clips of statements of some MLAs of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena who rebelled against their party leadership in June last year and joined hands with the BJP.

The video, in the end, shows a clip of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar's swearing-in ceremony on Sunday.

अब क्या बोलेंगे? pic.twitter.com/HOPRCUOsFN — ShivSena - शिवसेना Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (@ShivSenaUBT_) July 2, 2023

Ajit Pawar on Sunday led a vertical split in the party to become deputy chief minister in the one-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP government, shocking his uncle Sharad Pawar, who founded the outfit 24 years ago after quitting the Congress.

Besides Ajit Pawar, eight other NCP MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal and Hasan Mushrif, were sworn in as ministers in the Eknath Shinde cabinet. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, comprising the Shiv Sena (then undivided), NCP and Congress, collapsed in June last year after a revolt led by Shinde.

The revolt also led to a split in the Shiv Sena. Later, Shinde became the chief minister with BJP's support.

In the video posted by the Thackeray faction, Shinde is seen saying he freed the 'bow and arrow' (Shiv Sena's symbol) which was "mortgaged" to the NCP and Congress.

MLA Gulabrao Patil, currently a minister in the Shinde government, is seen in the video saying they were against Uddhav Thackeray accepting the "NCP-Congress ideology".

Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik is heard claiming the NCP-Congress alliance was trying to "weaken or finish" the Shiv Sena. The video also shows a clip of Uday Samant, currently a state minister, urging Thackeray to snap ties with the NCP and Congress to facilitate their (the then rebel MLAs) return.

Deepak Kesarkar, another minister from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is heard accusing Thackeray of "completely succumbing" to the NCP and Congress, and not having his own opinion.

Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Bhaskar Jadhav told a TV channel that while parting ways with Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde and his faction had said the BJP and Shiv Sena were natural allies and accused Thackeray of giving up Hindutva by joining hands with the NCP and Congress.

"The same people have now aligned with the NCP. Secondly, the (Shiv Sena) MLAs had accused Ajit Pawar (who was then finance minister in the MVA government) of not allocating funds to their constituencies. Now, Ajit Pawar has joined their cabinet," he noted.