Shiv Sena president and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday expressed confidence in his experiment of forming the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which he said was welcomed by the people of the state. Thackeray made the statement in the second part of his interview to the Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, reported news agency PTI.
Thackeray also expressed desire for the Assembly elections to be held early, and claimed that Shiv Sena will form government in the state again and have its own Chief Minister.
“The Shiv Sena will have a chief minister again. I will work to expand the party base and cadre. I will start touring the state from August. I want to have maximum membership,” Thackeray said in the interview to Saamana executive editor Sanjay Raut, reported PTI
He accused the BJP of instigating a fight between Shiv Sena supporters and the Marathi-speaking people.
“Delhi wants to instigate a Shiv Sena versus Shiv Sena fight and divide the Marathi-speaking people. If the present rulers fear the opposition, it is their inefficiency. In a democracy, no party is a permanent winner,” the Sena chief said further in the interview.
Shiv Sena had broken its alliance with the BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election over differences on sharing the chief ministerial post. The Sena later tied-up with the NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Thackeray.
Last month, Sena MLA Eknath Shinde along with 39 other party legislators and some independents revolted against the Sena leadership, leading to the MVA government of Thackeray to collapse.