Mumbai: The Maharashtra Opposition on Monday indirectly hinted that state industries minister Uday Samant, who has gone to Davos with CM Devendra Fadnavis, is being “groomed” by the BJP to replace Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde.
Making the claim, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar alleged that the BJP had decided to end Shinde’s leadership in Shiv Sena. “BJP has no use for Shinde anymore… just like they (BJP) sidelined Uddhav Thackeray and propped up Shinde, similarly now a new ‘Uday’ will be propped up,” said Wadettiwar.
While he did not name Samant, UBT Sena leader Sanjay Raut went ahead and named Samant as Shinde’s challenger. “BJP’s job is to finish off political parties for their own benefit. Samant has been taken to Davos by the CM. I have information that he (Samant) has 20 MLAs with him. In fact, when Shinde was upset over being overlooked for CM’s post, BJP was plan was to go with Samant. But, Shinde got wind of it in time,” claimed Raut.
However, Samant issued a statement from Davos, rubbishing the claims and said that it was an attempt to create a discord between Shinde and him.
