‘PM, Shah call to make me CM opened eyes’

MUMBAI: In his first address in the Maharashtra assembly after taking over as the chief minister of the state, Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde on Sunday said his government, in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will take the legacy of late Sena chief Bal Thackeray forward.

None of the 38 Sena rebels, who joined forces with Shinde leading to a vertical split in the party and the collapse of the 31-month-old Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, was coerced into supporting him, the new CM said.

“Everyone knows that Devendra Fadnavis had 115 members with him. I had only 50. Still, he, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah made me CM despite having numbers with them... This decision of the BJP has opened the eyes of many,” Shinde said.

“There were many attempts (to break our group). Some people (Sena leaders) said that 10-15 MLAS were in touch with them. I asked them to name them, I will send them back on a special plane. I even sent one back by a chartered flight (Nitin Deshmukh),” he added. “There is no question of zor-zabardasti (coercion).” Shinde was addressing the two-day special session of the assembly called for the election of a new speaker, and to conduct a floor test for the Shiv SENA-BJP government.

“I did not want anything, I had no expectations, but the BJP respected me and supported (the principle of democracy) and our ideological position,” said Shinde.

“BJP has 115 MLAS and I have 50. But still BJP showed a bigger heart and gave me the CM post. I want to thank PM (Narendra) Modi, Amit Shah and (BJP president) JP Nadda,” Shinde said.

In a dramatic turn of events, Shinde was sworn in as the CM on Thursday, while BJP leader and former CM Devendra Fadnavis, who initially said he will not be part of the new government, took oath as the deputy CM.