Mumbai:

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray claimed on Saturday that then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told him in 2019 that as a member of the two parties He will groom his son Aaditya Thackeray to be the next prime minister of Maharashtra as part of a power-sharing agreement between the two states.

Thackeray also said senior BJP leader Fadnavis told him that he would move to the Center in the next two to three years.

Addressing a rally in Dharavi, Mr Thackeray claimed that then-BJP president Amit Shah came to Matoshree, the private residence of the Thackeray family, seeking Alliance with Shiv Sena (non-divisive).

“At that time, Fadnavis was forced to sit outside late Bal Thackeray’s room while the two leaders (Shah and Thackeray) were discussing ways,” he claimed.

He said, I have been assured that the chief minister’s post will be held jointly by the BJP and the Senate for 2.5 years.

“Later, Devendra Fadnavis told me, Uddhav Ji, I will groom Aaditya for 2.5 years. We can make him chief minister after 2.5 years. I told him (Fadnavis) that he (Aaditya) has just started his electoral career. Don’t He puts anything like that in his heart,” Mr. Thackeray said.

When I asked Mr. Fadnavis how a senior leader like him would work in Aditya, he (Fadnavis) said he would move to Delhi, he added.

Thackeray’s claims prompted a strong reaction from Fadnavis, who is a member of the Mahayutthi government of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pa The current deputy chief minister of the NCP under Vaal, he said Thackeray had “lost his mind”.

“Uddhav Thackeray has become ‘bhramishta’ (insane). He was hallucinating. Initially, he said Amit Shah promised him to be the chief minister in a certain room. Now he says I promised To cover up one lie, another lie is being told by making his son the chief minister,” Mr. Fadnavis said.

However, he admitted to telling Mr. Thackeray that Aditya should be trained as he would eventually take control of the party (Shiv Sena) one day.

“Don’t talk about making him (Aaditya) chief minister, I won’t even make him a minister. He (Aaditya) later became a minister (when the MVA was in power), which led to the situation the Shiv Sena (UBT) is in today,” Law said Mr. Denaves said.

In his speech, Mr Thackeray slammed Mr Fadnavis for referring to “a certain room” during his meeting with Mr Shah and said Bal Thackeray’s room was like a temple.

Mr. Fadnavis later posted on ideal person”.

“Who are you trying to fool by telling imaginary scripts? You are misleading yourself,” he said while lashing out at Mr Thackeray.

Fadnavis further said that Maharashtra’s “socio-politics” and development were not a “Salem-Javed” playbook.

“You have nothing to do with politics and development. So don’t try to participate in such a script. You will get a befitting reply,” he objected to senior Thackeray.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said there was a limit to lying.

“He (Uddhav) wanted to become the chief minister. When he was part of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, he could not become the chief minister, so he changed his stance,” Mr Shinde told reporters, referring to Thacker The Rai-led Shiv Sena (Non-Party) joined hands with the NCP (Non-Party) and the Congress after the 2019 assembly elections.

Notably, the division engineered by Mr. Shinde led to the collapse of the Thackeray-led MVA government in June 2022.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)