'Won't ever leave Hindutva ideology,' says Uddhav after Fadnavis elected leader of Oppn

 Mumbai: Even as Shiv Sena formed Maharashtra government in alliance with NCP and Congress, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that Hindutva idelogy is indispensable to Sena and the party will not leave it.

"I am still with the ideology of 'Hindutva' and won't ever leave it," the chief minister told the Assembly.

At his press conference earlier this week, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that Shiv Sena compromised with its core ideology -- Hindutva -- by joining hands with Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

"The Shiv Sena's Hindutva now rests at the feet of (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi. Everyone is seeing this," Fadnavis had said.

Speaking after BJP's Devendra Fadnavis' election as the Leader of Opposition, Uddhav said he learnt lot of things from the former chief minister.

"I have learnt a lot of things from Devendra Fadvanis and I will always be friends with him. In the past five years, I have never betrayed the government."

Uddhav took a jibe at Fadnavis over the collapse of BJP-Shiv Sena alliance after the former refused to accept Sena's demand for equal power-sharing in the new government.

"I am a lucky CM because those who opposed me are now with me and those who I was with are now on the opposite side. I am here with my luck and blessings of people. I have never told anyone that I will be coming here but I came," he said.

Continuing his tirade against the BJP, he said, "I won't call you (Devendra Fadnavis) an 'Opposition leader', but I will call you a 'responsible leader'. If you would have been good to us then, all this (BJP-Shiv Sena split) would have not happened."