India, July 3 -- Amid the ongoing defection wave in Maharashtra politics, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray has suggested that the rebellion is engineered to keep chief minister Devendra Fadnavis out of the PM race, a move he said will "benefit" former CM Eknath Shinde.

In an exclusive interview to HT, Thackeray repeated the claims his father and UBT Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray earlier made: "Some elements in the BJP want Fadnavis in the Union cabinet to clip his wings." He further added that doing so would favour deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.

"They want to make sure he is not the party's prime ministerial face in the 2029 polls. This benefits Shinde because his single-point agenda is to become chief minister again," Thack...