



The chief minister stoutly defended his rebellion against Thackeray's leadership in June that brought down the MVA government. Slamming Thackeray, Shinde, who heads the rebel faction of the party, said the Shiv Sena was not a “private limited company” and maintained the 56-year-old outfit was built through hard work of common Sena workers. He said massive crowds at his Dussehra rally was proof enough to show who are true inheritors of Bal Thackeray's legacy. Shinde said voters in the state elected the Shiv Sena and the BJP in the 2019 Assembly elections, but Thackeray "betrayed" people by joining hands with the Congress and the NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Shinde asserted his rebellion was not an act of "betrayal", but a "revolt" and asked Uddhav Thackeray to kneel down at party founder Bal Thackeray's memorial here and apologise for going against his ideals and aligning with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Thackeray made an hour-long speech at Shivaji Park ground, where his party has been holding the Dussehra rallies since its inception half a century ago, while Shinde addressed the crowd for an hour and a half at a bigger ground at Bandra Kurla Complex. While Uddhav Thackeray branded Shinde and his supporters as traitors for teaming up with the BJP to wrest power, the latter said Thackeray had betrayed people of Maharashtra who voted for the Sena and BJP to form an alliance government, by teaming up with Congress and NCP after 2019 Assembly elections. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday accused each other of betrayal as the Shiv Sena groups headed by them held Dussehra rallies in Mumbai.
