Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s rise to power dramatically reshaped Maharashtra’s political landscape, marked by his defection from the Shiv Sena to join the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. In the first election since this political shift, much is at stake for the rebel leader.  

In this exclusive interview with Sreenivasan Jain, Shinde answers tough questions on the BJP’s divisive rhetoric, the alliance with Ajit Pawar’s NCP, the controversial ‘vote jihad’ statements, and the incumbent government’s welfare schemes.

On BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ‘vote jihad’ statement, Shinde says that he “doesn’t believe in it” and the alliance is “moving forward with an agenda of development”. He further says that the opposition’s “fake narrative”, including claims about potential changes to the constitution and efforts to paint the BJP as anti-Muslim impacted their performance in Lok Sabha polls. 

When asked about the corruption cases against Ajit Pawar, Shinde says the “past allegations are unproven”. 

Watch the full interview.

Support our coverage of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls. Click here to contribute to our NL Sena project.

Small teams can do great things. All it takes is a subscription. Subscribe now and power Newslaundry’s work.