Uddhav's big charge: Shah asked BJP leaders to...

Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders had been directed in a closed-door meeting to break the Opposition ranks and target himself and NCP-SP leader Sharad Pawar.

IMAGE: Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray speaks after inaugurating a life-size statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Ramtek city in east Maharashtra. Photograph: @ShivSenaUBT_/X

Thackeray said the people will decide his political future and not the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

He alleged Union Home Minister Amit Shah had directed BJP leaders in a "closed-door" meeting to "stop" him (Uddhav) and Sharad Pawar politically.

"During his recent visit to Nagpur, Amit Shah held a closed-door meeting of BJP leaders where he asked them to split the Opposition ranks and politically stop me and Sharad Pawar. Why speak behind closed doors? He should say this before people," Thackeray said after inaugurating a life-size statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Ramtek city in east Maharashtra.

Why does Shah want to finish Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar politically...so that the BJP can loot Maharashtra, he alleged.

Thackeray said the BJP snapped its three-decade-old alliance with (undivided) Shiv Sena in 2014 (before assembly elections). "However, Sena managed to win 63 seats," he added.

Thackeray wondered if RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat agreed with BJP's "Hindutva" involving breaking other parties and poaching (opposition leaders).

"The upcoming elections are not about power but they are crucial to prevent Maharashtra from getting looted," the former chief minister said and appealed to people to ensure a massive victory for Maha Vikas Aghadi and deliver all six assembly segments in Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency.

Congress and NCP (SP) leaders Sunil Kedar and Anil Deshmukh shared the dais with Thackeray.

Thackeray also slammed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, alleging that since he became the Chief Minister, many industrial projects from the state have gone to Gujarat.

"When I was the Chief Minister, did you hear even a single news that any project from here went to Gujarat? In the last two and a half years, since this Mindhe (Shinde) became Chief Minister, so many industries have gone to Gujarat. Everything is being taken to Gujarat. Mumbai's economic centre has also been taken to Gujarat. We are not just fighting for power, but our fight is against the looting of Maharashtra," Thackeray said.

He alleged that in past two years Maharashtra failed to bag projects and industries it should have to neighbouring Gujarat.

Notably, Vedanta-Foxconn had inked a pact with Gujarat in September 2022 for a Rs 1.54 lakh crore semiconductor project in Ahmedabad.