Uddhav Thackeray offers to quit as Sena chief amid rebellion: Ready to pick anyone
Amid the deepening rebellion within the Shiv Sena UBT, party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday offered to step down from his position if party workers
Amid the deepening rebellion within the Shiv Sena UBT, party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday offered to step down from his position if party workers no longer had faith in his leadership, saying he was willing to hand over the reins to any worker if members felt he was no longer fit to lead. Addressing party cadres at the Shiv Sena Foundation Day, Thackeray said he was prepared to make "anyone" the party chief and would not cling to the post. However, he asserted that he would not give up the fight for the party's ideology. Read Full Story "I will not give up. But the day you feel I am not righteous for this position, I will leave," Thackeray said. He continued that some people expected the party to lose hope, but asserted that Shiv Sena (UBT) would continue its fight. Referring to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, he said workers were asking for directions and recalled that Balasaheb had once instructed party members to take on those who betrayed the organisation.
"Some people must be thinking that we will lose hope. But we will not. Some people are saying that I should give orders. Balasaheb had given an order earlier (to break those who ditch us)," Thackeray said, referring to the six of the party's nine Lok Sabha MPs who recently severed ties with the leadership and skipped a parliamentary party meeting. Earlier this week, in a major political setback for the Uddhav Sena, six of its nine Lok Sabha MPs rebelled against the party leadership. The crisis deepened on Thursday after the rebel MPs, who are alleged to be preparing to join Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, skipped a crucial parliamentary party meeting convened by Thackeray. Addressing the party workers, the former Maharashtra Chief Minister apologised to voters over the exodus of MPs from his party. "Today I apologise to voters because they voted for us but our MPs left," he said.
Targeting defectors, including those who have accused him of being inaccessible, Thackeray said Shiv Sena had made many leaders what they are today and questioned such allegations by asking how they had managed to win elections if he was unavailable. Thackeray defended the Shiv Sena (UBT)'s alliance with the Congress but firmly dismissed speculation about a merger with the party, a claim that has been cited by some as a factor behind the recent defections. "If for 30 years we were with the BJP and did not merge with the BJP, how will we merge with Congress?" he asked. He said that while the Sena had political differences with the Congress in the past, the party had "never insulted Matoshree" and had honoured its commitments. In a pointed attack on the BJP, he remarked that the Congress was "better than the BJP's Hindutva".
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