I’M WITH HINDUTVA, WILL NOT RETURN TO SHIV SENA: SHINDE

Mumbai: In a startling turn of events, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has reportedly offered to step down and make way for rebel minister Eknath Shinde who, along with close to 2 dozen MLAs, has moved to a hotel in Surat, a day after a blow to the ruling Sena-NCPCong coalition in MLC elections where BJP won 5 seats, with Sena & NCP bagging 2 each. Meanwhile, Shinde tweeted that he would never cheat for power. Nearly an hour after his tweet, he dropped Shiv Sena off his Twitter bio.

Tuesday’s political drama came amid allegations of cross-voting by some Sena MLAs. Shinde is reportedly miffed with top brass after he was neglected in the functioning of the party & govt. Media reports also said Shinde and his followers had complained about the stepmotherly treatment by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the allocation of funds.