My mistake to trust some Sena leaders too much: Uddhav Thackeray

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday compared rebel party leaders to “rotten leaves” of a tree and said let there be elections to make it clear whether people support him on the rebel faction. In his first interview to Sena mouthpiece Saamana after stepping down as the chief minister last month, Thackeray said it was a mistake that he trusted some of the party leaders too much.

Last month, the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (government in Maharashtra, which comprised the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, collapsed after Sena MLA Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators rebelled against the party leadership. Shinde was later sworn in as the chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.

“These rebels are like rotten leaves of a tree and should be shed. It is good for the tree as there will be new leaves,” Thackeray said. Reacting to the claim of rebel leaders that they represent the real Shiv Sena, Thackeray said let there be elections and see whom people chose. “The people we will either vote for us or support them. It will be clear once and for all,” the former CM said.