According to a renegade Shiv Sena faction on Friday, Uddhav Thackeray had discussed leaving his position as chief minister of Maharashtra following last year’s elections with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.According to Deepak Kesarkar, a spokesperson for the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, Thackeray valued his relationships with PM Modi more than maintaining the position of leadership.
Kesarkar claimed that many Shiv Sena leaders were “painted” by Narayan Rane, a BJP MP and Union minister, for attempting to “malign” the reputation of then-Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray by involving him in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
“After Uddhav ji met Modi ji (in June last year), it was decided that he will quit (as CM) in the next 15 days because for him his relations (with PM) were more important (than holding post). But it was realised that he needed more time to convince his party workers,” he said.
In the past, Modi had termed Thackeray, who is the Shiv Sena president, as his “younger brother”.