Shinde takes a dig at Uddhav Thackeray over his meeting with CM Fadnavis

Nagpur (The Uttam Hindu): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday took a dig at Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray over his meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, saying it was like “meet this one, meet that one and go home next day.” He thereby downplayed the meeting between Thackeray and Fadnavis.

“Anyone can meet the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister is the head of the state. The opposition party also meets him. The leaders of other parties of the opposition party also meet him. I see a radical change in those who criticised him severely, talked about ending him, and talked about putting him in jail. It is not wrong to meet Devendra Fadnavis,” said Shinde. On the other hand, Shiv Sena legislator and former minister Deepak Kesarkar said “If Uddhav Thackeray had held such a meeting earlier (with Devendra Fadnavis), Shiv Sena would not have been divided into two.”

“Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray had not even responded to Devendra Fadnavis’ telephonic calls. Uddhav Thackeray abandoned Balasaheb Thackeray’s idea of Hindutva for the post of Chief Minister. Eknath Shinde had no other demand. Eknath Shinde’s only demand was that we should go with the idea of Hindutva. We should not go with the Congress. But if Uddhav Thackeray had met Devendra Fadnavis then, all this would not have happened. Devendra Fadnavis called Uddhav Thackeray many times in 2019. But now it is too late. Now the MahaYuti government has come back to power again,” said Kesarkar.

Meanwhile, Shinde slammed the opposition for their campaign against EVMs, saying that “When the poll results go against them, allegations are made against EVMs.” “When the results are in favour of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, then EVMs are good. For them, the Election Commission is good. The Supreme Court and the High Court are also good. When the results are against them, then they start blaming EVMs. The opposition has been doing this for the last few days. In 2004 and 2009, voting was done on EVMs and the Congress won. When you win, you praise that system,” he added.

"Even the Supreme Court said that when you win, you don't come to us and when you lose, you come to us. This is a double standard. After winning the Lok Sabha elections, you (the opposition) didn't talk about EVMs. Omar Abdullah has also slammed the Congress," said Eknath Shinde. He said that Congress should not insult the mandate otherwise the people will make them sit at home. Shinde also ridiculed Uddhav Thackeray for his demand that the appointment of Election Commissioner be made through election.