Maharashtra: Aaditya Thackeray called me uncle, sat in my cabin, and then took my ministry, says Ramdas Kadam | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: A day after he resigned from his post as Shiv Sena leader, was expelled from the party by the Uddhav Thackeray faction and then re-appointed a leader by the Eknath Shinde camp, Ramdas Kadam in an emotive outburst slammed the Shiv Sena leadership and said that no one from Matoshree had taken the trouble to call him even once before expelling him. Kadam hit out at party chief Thackeray’s son, Aaditya, saying the young politician should keep in mind his own age when saying things about his MLAs. Kadam, who was the environment minister in the state from 2014 to 2019, said that while it was he who had imposed the ban on single-use plastic in 2018, all the credit was given to Aaditya. “Aaditya Thackeray used to sit with me in the minister’s cabin for one and a half years when I was the environment minister. At that time, I did not think that Aaditya Thackeray, who used to call me ‘uncle’, would go ahead and take my ministry. I have never done this kind of politics in my entire life. In fact, an outsider cannot sit in the minister’s cabin and hold a meeting like this. But since Aaditya was the son of Uddhav Thackeray, I did not say anything. I took the decision to ban plastic while I was the environment minister. But he was magnified …by giving credit to Aaditya Thackeray. Even then I didn’t say anything,” Kadam said. Kadam was seen weeping on television interviews, where he asked Thackeray how many people would he sack from the Shiv Sena. Kadam asked him to introspect on why 50 MLAs and 12 MPs had decided to back chief minister Eknath Shinde. Kadam said that when the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs were in Guwahati, he had spoken to Shinde about going back into the party fold and Shinde had agreed, but the attempt failed as the coterie around Thackeray began abusing the MLAs. Kadam said that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had finally succeeded in splitting the Shiv Sena. “Sharad Pawar finally succeeded in breaking the Shiv Sena; his plan was successful. What Sharad Pawar could not do when Balasaheb was alive, he did with Uddhav Thackeray. We are lucky that this split in the Sena happened in two and a half years, otherwise the entire Shiv Sena would have ended in five years. Uddhav Thackeray should try to come together with the BJP in future instead of expelling us. After going to Guwahati, I discussed the possibility of coming back to Uddhavji with Eknath Shinde and he was prepared. But the leaders around Uddhav started calling the MLAs bulls, dogs, goons — and women MLAs were also called names,” Kadam said. “How many people is Uddhav Thackeray going to expel? Fifty MLAs have been sacked; now you are going to expel 12 MPs. Shivajirao Adalrao Patil, Anandro Adsul and now hundreds of corporators are going. Are you going to ask them too … . [I]s this the only thing that is left to do sitting in Matoshree?” Kadam said.