Mumbai, Feb. 12 -- The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday expressed strong disapproval of its ally and NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar for felicitating Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, exposing cracks in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said honouring a person who split the Shiv Sena and "weakened Maharashtra" has hurt the sentiments of Marathi people.
This is perhaps for the first time that the Sena (UBT) launched a direct attack on Pawar, considered the chief architect of the MVA, an unlikely alliance of three parties with divergent political views, formed in 2019.
What perhaps upset the Sena (UBT) the most was Pawar's praise of Shinde, a bete-noire of the party. The Sena (UBT), especially Raut, party chief Uddhav Thackeray and leader Aaditya Thackeray have been highly critical of Shinde.
It was Shinde who split the Shiv Sena with the help of Amit Shah, and felicitating him was akin to honouring the BJP leader, said Raut.
Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress are partners in the MVA, which was in power in the state from November 2019 to June 2022. Shinde was on Tuesday honoured in Delhi with the Mahadji Shinde Rashtra Gaurav Puraskar at the hands of Pawar on the occasion of the 98th Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan.
While Pawar's party said it was a programme about literature and not politics, the BJP termed the felicitation an admission by the NCP (SP) president that Shinde was a better chief minister than Uddhav Thackeray.Pawar heads the reception committee of the literary meet, scheduled to start next week. Raut said Pawar should not have attended the event, as Shinde toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led government of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress in Maharashtra in 2022 by resorting to "betrayal".
"Certain things should be avoided in politics. Yesterday, Sharad Pawar did not felicitate Shinde, but he felicitated Amit Shah. This is our feeling," the Rajya Sabha member told reporters in Delhi.
"Giving such an honour to someone we consider an enemy of Maharashtra is a jolt to Maharashtra's pride. Pawar must have thought differently, but such politics has not gone down well with the people of Maharashtra," Raut said.
"You (Sharad Pawar) are a senior politician, and we respect you. But the ones who split Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena with the help of Amit Shah and weakened Maharashtra, you are honouring such people. This has hurt the sentiments of Marathi people," he said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.