Uddhav Thackeray Makes Big Claim About Son, as Told by Devendra Fadnavis

Mr. Thackeray made several claims at a rally in Dharavi, including that Mr. Fadnavis, a senior BJP leader, had told him he would move to the Centre in the next two to three years. He also alleged that during discussions with Amit Shah, Fadnavis was made to sit outside while the two leaders discussed modalities. Mr. Thackeray further stated that Fadnavis assured him that the post of chief minister would be shared for 2.5 years between BJP and Shiv Sena (undivided).

Additionally, he claimed that Fadnavis told him he would groom Aaditya for 2.5 years and make him CM after that period, a suggestion Mr. Thackeray disagreed with. In response, Mr. Fadnavis dismissed Mr. Thackeray’s claims, labeling him as “delirious” and accused him of fabricating stories to cover up previous falsehoods. Fadnavis admitted to suggesting Aaditya be trained, but denied ever promising to make him a chief minister.

He also criticized Thackeray for mentioning a room in discussions with Shah, emphasizing that Bal Thackeray’s room is akin to a temple. The back-and-forth between the two politicians escalated, with Mr. Fadnavis asserting that Mr. Thackeray should not involve himself in “Salim-Javed” scripts and warning him that he would receive a fitting reply for his comments. Furthermore, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde criticized Mr. Thackeray, suggesting that his desire to become the chief minister led to the split from the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance and the subsequent alliance with the NCP and Congress after the 2019 assembly elections.

It should be noted that a split engineered by Mr. Shinde led to the collapse of the Thackeray-led MVA government in June 2022.