MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday slammed deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde for splitting six of its MPs and said that Shinde’s “arrogance of money” and his politics would eventually put chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in trouble.An editorial in Saamana, the Sena (UBT) mouthpiece, claimed that a group in Delhi had revealed that Shinde was allegedly plotting against Fadnavis. “Betrayal has become the identity of Maharashtra,” the editorial stated.“Due to the corrupt handshake between Shinde and Fadnavis, Maharashtra has been pushed back by 25 years. The reputation of the state has been tarnished. The politics of Shinde’s arrogance of money will one day get Fadnavis into trouble too. Leaving Maharashtra’s issues aside, Fadnavis speaks about Shinde’s ‘delivery’ and distributes sweets,” the sarcastic editorial stated.Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also claimed that the “price” of an MP was Rs 85 crore. “Robbing the people’s wealth! Who is paying the lakhs of rupees for the chartered flight?” Raut said in a post on X, while sharing a video of three rebel MPs travelling on a chartered flight reportedly from Mumbai to Nanded on Monday.“Maharashtra is facing numerous issues. The government’s concern for those issues is not visible at all. Fadnavis, Shinde and Sunetra Pawar came together on the eve of the monsoon session of the legislature. Fadnavis and Shinde are at loggerheads, but the photograph released yesterday also speaks volumes. Shinde is looking in the other direction while Fadnavis is speaking. The chief minister should have spoken about Maharashtra’s issues, but he spoke about the betrayal in the Shiv Sena. Fadnavis expressed satisfaction that the ‘betrayal’ was successful,” the editorial stated.“The CM said, ‘Operation betrayal was successful and the patient is in good condition.’ In short, he wanted to say that Shinde gave birth to six healthy traitors at the same time. This childbirth was not easy. At least Rs 500 crore was spent to make it successful. Now, who is the real father of this baby? Research is underway on this. Fadnavis expressed happiness that Shinde gave birth to six traitors,” the editorial added.It further claimed that Amit Shah was also feeling the impact of the developments in Delhi. “In Maharashtra, once upon a time, whenever the name of the self-respecting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was mentioned, cries of ‘traitors’ were heard. But now Fadnavis is enjoying shortening the line of Shivaji’s self-respecting thoughts and lengthening the line of betrayal. Betrayal has become the identity of Maharashtra,” the editorial stated.
