A day after rebellion staged by senior minister Eknath Shinde and other legislators, in an emotional Facebook address, the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday announced that he was prepared to step down as the CM and also as the Shiv Sena President if the rebels and the Shiv Sainiks want. Thackeray however said that he would step down as the CM if a Shiv Sainik is going to be his successor. Thackeray said he has kept his resignation letter ready as he was willing to resign as CM this very moment. ‘’I will resign even if one of the disgruntled legislators demands that he doesn't want me as CM,’’ he noted.
Thackeray, who began his address by saying that he was tested COVID-19 positive, claimed that he was not helpless but insisted that those (rebel legislators) should come and speak to him demanding his resignation instead of expressing their views on TV and social media.
“I am ready to give my resignation to the MLAs, they should come here and take my resignation to Raj Bhavan. I am ready to leave the post of Shiv Sena party president also, not on the sayings of others but my workers”, said Thackeray. ‘’I have nothing to worry till Shiv Sainiks are with me,’’ he added.
Thackeray argued, ‘’It’s not about numbers but how many are against me. I will leave if even one person or MLA is against me. It’s very shameful for me if even a single MLA is against me. If they had something against me, what was the need of saying all this in Surat, they could have come here and said this to my face”.
‘’I am getting calls from MLAs who have gone with Eknath Shinde; they are claiming that they were forcibly taken away,"nThackeray said.
‘’If Congress and NCP said I should not be CM, it's different but my own people are saying. I am surprised,’’ said Thackeray, adding that ‘’Kamal Nath also said I should be CM. But when my own people (MLAs) don't want me, what can I say?’’ he asked.
Thackeray said some MLAs are calling them to say that they want to come back.
Thackeray said that Shiv Sena never separated from Hindutva.
"Hindutva is in our breath. It is not the time to talk about who has done what for Hindutva," Uddhav Thackeray said, adding, "I have been trying to take Balasaheb's Hindutva ahead,’’ he added.
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