Maharashtra: Shinde says son got LS ticket so party got a "well-educated, young face"

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday hit back at Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray over the latter's statements on dynastic politics.

Thackeray had asked people to "Bury dynastic politics and traitors" while addressing a public gathering yesterday, 13 January, during his tour of the Kalyan constituency, which is represented by Eknath Shinde's son Shrikant Shinde in the Lok Sabha.

Thackeray had also specifically said that giving Shinde's son a ticket was a mistake back in 2019.

Justifying his son's candidature, Eknath Shinde said," It was the requirement of the party in that period. The party was seeking a well-educated and young face to be fielded in the Lok Sabha election. It gave a ticket to Shrikant and we won. Our party's tally increased."

Shinde Sr meanwhile Thackeray's chief ministership before the split in the Shiv Sena, between late 2019 and June 2022, claiming his tenure had taken Maharashtra back by more than 10 years.

"That's why we toppled his government. It is unfortunate several infrastructure projects were stopped only to satisfy one's ego," he alleged.

Thackeray's remark on dynastic politics of course can't be read in isolation, of course, since he himself belongs to a political family, as his father Bal Thackeray was the founder of the Shiv Sena and his son Aaditya was a minister in the previous state government. Thackeray's aspersion clearly pertained specifically to the Shinde family, as his allusion to dynastic politics has to be read with "traitor".

Notably, this comes soon after the Maharashtra speaker declared Shinde's faction the 'real' Shiv Sena, rather than disqualify them as the UBT demanded—a move widely read as partisan.

With PTI inputs