‘Got a call from Uddhav when Eknath received Naxal threat’: Shinde loyalist’s new claim

Two legislators of the Eknath Shinde camp have alleged that former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had denied Z plus security cover to Eknath Shinde when Shinde received a threat from Naxals.

The allegation has been refuted by Congress’s Satej Patil who was the minister of state home (urban) in the Thackeray government. Patil said the chief minister or the home minister does not interfere in such decisions as there is a committee to take care of these things.

Shinde loyalists Suhas Kande and Shambhuraj Desai told a news channel that Uddhav had directed that Eknath Shinde’s security should not be upgraded. Desai was the minister of state Home (Rural) in the Uddhav government. He said he got a call from Uddhav asking if there was a meeting about upgrading Shinde’s security.

“I told him that a meeting was being held that day. I was given clear directions that security can not be upgraded,” he claimed.

The Shinde loyalists claimed that the police had informed the then home minister Dilip Walse Patil that the Naxals had come to Mumbai to kill Shinde. In February this year, Shinde being the guardian minister of Naxal-affected Gadchiroli had received threats — two months after 26 Naxals were killed in police action.

“Still, security was not provided to him. Anti-Hindutva people were given security, then why not a Hindutva leader?” Suhas Kande said.

The Uddhav camp and the Shinde camp are at loggerheads following the BJP-aided coup which made Eknath Shinde the chief minister replacing Uddhav Thackeray.

“Shinde was with the Shiv Sena, why would the chief minister decide against providing him security? As guardian minister of Gadchiroli district, Shinde also had additional police security. I don’t think there is any truth in these allegations,” Satej Patil said dismissing these allegations.