Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has welcomed his former leader Uddhav Thackeray’s “radical change” in the form of his supposed ‘return to Hindutva’, on Wednesday.

“A radical change has been seen in them (Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena recently, which is a good thing. These were the same people who were talking about jailing BJP and Mahayuti leaders when they came to power. These people were so excited after the victory in the Lok Sabha that they had also expanded the cabinet of the legislature,” Deputy CM Shinde said in Nagpur.

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Incidentally, talk about Uddhav Thackeray’s supposed ‘return to Hindutva’ began doing the rounds after he met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, coming just a day the Shiv Sena’s (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut dared the Prime Minister to confer the Bharat Ratna on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Now it has emerged that Uddhav Thackeray himself made the same demand of conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar when he met CM Fadnavis on Tuesday in Nagpur after attending the winter session of the legislature on Tuesday. Speaking to media persons, after he met CM Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray questioned why the BJP has not conferred the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar.

“When he was CM, he had written to PM Modi with a request to bestow the honour of Bharat Ratna on Savarkar. Even today he’s the CM and his demand has not been considered. So the BJP has no right to speak about Savarkar. I reiterate my demand that the nation’s highest honour be given to Savarkar,” Uddhav Thackeray said.

Thackeray also urged both the BJP and Congress to move beyond historical debates about Jawaharlal Nehru and Vinayak Savarkar and asked them to focus on critical development related issues. “Both Nehru and Savarkar are historical figures who made their contributions. Today, what we need is a focus on development, addressing farmers’ issues, improving infrastructure, and resolving unemployment,” Uddhav said.

However, Uddhav Thackeray’s demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar has been met with a stoic silence from his Maha Vika Aghadi (MVA) partner, Congress. The Congress had not yet reacted to Uddhav Thackeray’s politically sensitive statement which has the potential to open another political faultline among the MVA allies.

Significantly, Uddhav Thackeray’s demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar came merely days after Leader of Opposition, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi criticised Savarkar in the Lok Sabha, for the latter’s views contrary to the values of the Constitution and for having apologised to the British.