&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Amid defection buzz, Uddhav Thackeray offers to step down as Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, vows to fight on")
Amid growing unrest within the Shiv Sena (UBT), party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said he was ready to step down if party workers no longer had confidence in his leadership. Addressing cadres on the party's 60th foundation day, the former Maharashtra Chief Minister said he was willing to hand over the responsibility to any party worker if members felt he was not the right person to lead.
Thackeray said he was prepared to make "anyone" the party chief and had no desire to hold on to the position. At the same time, he made it clear that he would continue to fight for the party's ideology.
"I am not someone who will run away in the face of challenges, but if you don't have trust in me, I am willing to step down," Uddhav said while addressing party workers on Shiv Sena's 60th foundation day on Friday.
"I would be happy if someone from the party ranks becomes the next Shiv Sena president, but I will not let it pass on in the hands of thieves," he said.
Targeting the BJP, Thackeray alleged that the party was trying to eliminate Shiv Sena (UBT) and claimed that the country was moving towards "one party, no election".
"Some people must be thinking that we will lose hope. But we will not. Some people are saying that I should give orders. Balasaheb had given an order earlier (to break those who ditch us)," Thackeray said, referring to six of the party's nine Lok Sabha MPs who recently cut ties with the leadership and skipped a parliamentary party meeting.
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Shinde says bigger shocks yet to come
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took an indirect swipe at the ongoing "Operation Tiger" speculation surrounding Shiv Sena (UBT), saying that recent events were only the beginning and that more developments were expected.
Shinde, who split from Uddhav Thackeray in 2022 and later secured the Shiv Sena name and symbol, was speaking at the party's 60th foundation day event when he launched a sharp attack on the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief.
He accused Uddhav of abandoning Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology for power and claimed that those who moved away from the saffron ideology had suffered politically.
"The Shiv Sena is an ideology; it is not just a political party, it is like a saffron cloud. Those who forgot the saffron ideology suffered losses. You forgot Balasaheb's ideology for the sake of a chair. When he was alive, you troubled him; but even after he passed away, you are honouring the very people he hated," Shinde said.
