MUMBAI: In a recent revelation, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut claimed that Eknath Shinde could have become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 2019 but was blocked by many, first by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and later top leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. 

Raut stated that if the BJP had honored its promise of 50:50 power-sharing with the Shiv Sena, Shinde would have become the Chief Minister. However, the BJP did not fulfill this promise, leading to the formation of the MVA government with Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Minister.

Uddhav Thackeray, then head of the undivided Shiv Sena, broke off the party’s alliance with the BJP over the CM post after the 2019 assembly elections and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with the Congress and undivided NCP to become Chief Minister himself.

Raut also mentioned that Shinde was involved in the formation of the MVA and was focused on securing a significant portfolio. Despite being made the leader of the Shiv Sena legislature party, Shinde’s ambition to become the Chief Minister was thwarted by MVA leaders, who considered him too junior and refused to work under him.

This revelation comes in the wake of recent events where Sharad Pawar felicitated Shinde with the Mahadji Shinde Rashtra Gaurav Puraskar in Delhi, which did not sit well with the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena.

The fact that Pawar, a key member of the alliance both in the state and at the national level, felicitated Shinde added to the intrigue, as Shinde is a staunch opponent of Shiv Sena (UBT). UBT leader Aditya Thackeray hit out at Shinde, calling him “anti-Maharashtra” and saying that those who betray the state are “anti-national.”