Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Tuesday took digs at each other in the legislative council as Thackeray was given a farewell upon the expiry of his term.
Besides Thackeray, the council also gave farewell to Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena), Amol Mitkari (NCP), Shashikant Shinde (NCP-SP), Rajesh Rathod (Congress) and BJP’s Dadarao Keche, Sanjay Kanekar, Ranjeet Sinh Mohite-Patil and Sandeep Joshi.
Shinde initiated the farewell motion.
He addressed Thackeray as “Uddhav saheb Thackeray”. Notably, both Shinde and Thackeray, who parted ways in June 2022 after Shinde rebelled against the latter’s leadership, have avoided naming each other even while launching attacks.
There are no full-stops in politics, Shinde said, and extended his wishes to Thackeray.
But while talking about Gorhe, Shinde underlined that she was not born with a silver spoon in mouth, apparently drawing contrast with Uddhav Thackeray, who inherited party leadership from his father, Sena founder Bal Thackeray.
Both Shinde and Neelam Gorhe have worked under the leadership of Bal Thackeray.
In his speech, Uddhav Thackeray referred to the case of self-styled godman Ashok Kharat, arrested for raping a woman on the pretext for performing rituals.
“Bulls are being slaughtered for selfish reasons,” he said cryptically.
Shinde, after becoming chief minister in 2022 by toppling the Thackeray-led government, had visited a temple built by Kharat in Nashik district, and their photos went viral after Kharat’s recent arrest.
Leaders of the Sena (UBT) have alleged in the past that when Shinde and MLAs of his faction visited Assam after the 2022 Shiv Sena split, bulls were sacrificed at a temple in Guwahati.
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