Shiv Sena MP faces flak over ‘Mumbai was Gujarat’s capital’ remark

Mumbai: Days after Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde came under opposition attack for his ‘Jai Gujarat’ slogan at an event, his Shiv Sena party MP Pratap Jadhav is facing flak for calling Mumbai as former capital of the neighbouring state.

Speaking to reporters in Dharashiv district on Sunday, Jadhav, Union minister of state for health, told reporters, “There is no need to indulge in politics over such issues. Gujarat is our neighbouring state. It is not in Pakistan.” During Samyukta Maharashtra (movement), Mumbai was also the capital of Gujarat, Jadhav said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi objected to Jadhav’s remarks.

“This man is MoS in the centre. This man is also someone who betrayed his own party leadership for panaas khoke (50 boxes). This man is also part of the Jai Gujarat party from Maharashtra. No wonder this man has started hallucinating and making up history to please his masters,” she posted on X on Monday.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said Jadhav’s remarks show hatred for Maharashtra.

Shinde, speaking at an event in Pune last week, lauded Union Home Minister Amit Shah and ended his speech with this sequence of slogans: “Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra, Jai Gujarat.”

While he came in for flak from the opposition members who accused him of being “greedy for power” as Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi belong to Gujarat, CM Devendra Fadnavis defended Shinde, saying "Just because Shinde said ‘Jai Gujarat’, it doesn’t mean that Shinde loves Gujarat more than Maharashtra.”