Discussed sharing CM post with Sena in 2019

Thackeray has time and again said shared CM-ship was on offer, but Fadnavis has said it for the first time

- Yogesh Naik

MUMBAI: CM Devendra Fadnavis, in an interaction on Saturday, harked back to the old 2019 controversy regarding the BJP and undivided Shiv Sena sharing the CM's post for two and a half years each. The BJP and Sena were to enter into an alliance before the assembly elections.

While Uddhav Thackeray has time and again said that the BJP promised him a shared CMship and later went back on its word, the BJP has so far maintained that the issue was never discussed in pre-poll talks, At the Pune event organised by Jaipur Dialogues, Fadnavis, however, stated that the issue had been discussed.

"Uddhav once told me that the Shiv Sena wanted a shared CMship, and that he had spoken to our seniors," said Fadnavis. "He wanted a final call on this. It was 1 am. I told him that I could not take a decision but it could be discussed with our president Amit Shah. A call was put through to Shah, who said it could not be done, and the BJP was not interested in an alliance if this was the condition. We told Uddhav that we had not given anyone the post of deputy chief minister in 2014-2019 and we could give this to him."