'Ready to Leave If You Lose Faith': Uddhav Thackeray's Message to Cadre Amid Latest Revolt

Maharashtra: Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday that he is ready to step down if party workers no longer trust him. The former Maharashtra Chief Minister said he would hand over leadership to anyone else if members think he cannot lead properly.

He spoke during when he was addressing at the Shiv Sena Foundation Day event. Thackeray told party members that he is willing to let anyone become party chief and will not hold onto his position. But he made clear he will not stop fighting for the party's core values.
"I will not give up. But the day you feel I am not fit for this position, I will leave," he said.

Why he took this decision?

He acknowledged that some people want the party to collapse, but said Shiv Sena (UBT) will keep fighting. He recalled how founder Bal Thackeray once told party members to deal harshly with those who betray the organization.
"Some people think we will lose hope. We will not. Balasaheb gave an order back then to crush those who abandon us," Thackeray said. He was referring to six out of nine Lok Sabha MPs who recently broke away and skipped a key party meeting.

Is this a crisis?

Six out of total nine party's nine Lok Sabha MPs had been rebelled within week. On Thursday, these MPs who are said to be joining Eknath Shinde's rival Shiv Sena faction, missed an important parliamentary party meeting called by Thackeray.
Thackeray apologized to voters for losing these MPs. He added, "I apologize to voters today because they voted for us, but our MPs left".
He further defended the party's alliance with Congress. But it is also being said that there is no plan to merge with them. "If we stayed with the BJP for 30 years without merging, how will we merge with Congress?" he asked.
He also attacked the BJP directly, saying Congress is "better than the BJP's Hindutva."

What was Shinde's counter-attack?

At the same event, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is also serving as Shiv Sena's chief in his split, launched a sharp attack on Uddhav Thackeray. He accused him of abandoning Bal Thackeray's ideology by teaming up with Congress and NCP. "You now worship the people who criticized Balasaheb. The NCP and Congress broke Shiv Sena, and now you sit with them," Shinde said.
He hinted there is more trouble coming. "This is just the start. This is only the trailer. The main picture is still to come. Wait and see what happens next," he said.
Shinde praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said Bal Thackeray would have supported Modi's work. He also said his faction, not Uddhav's, has carried forward Bal Thackeray's real vision.

In a harsh dig at Uddhav, Shinde said: "The tiger stands in front of you. Some dogs have been barking lately. Dogs bark in groups, but the tiger comes alone. This is Shiv Sena."
He said only someone with a tiger's heart can lead a real operation. "A wolf cannot do any operation," he added, a reference to his own rebellion against Uddhav's leadership.

The bigger picture?

This is the worst crisis for Uddhav's Shiv Sena since 2022, when Shinde broke away and joined the BJP to form a government. Now six of the nine Lok Sabha MPs are moving towards Shinde's faction and have asked the Lok Sabha Speaker to recognize them as a separate group.
The rebel MPs say the party has lost its way from Bal Thackeray's ideology and are upset about the closeness to Congress. Uddhav's camp has rejected these claims and issued notices to the rebels.