Chaggan Bhujbal

Bhujbal was among the 8 NCP rebels who joined the NDA government of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with Sharad Pawar's nephew and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal would have become the chief minister of Maharashtra had he not quit the Sena. Thackery was speaking at a function here to mark Bhujbal's 75th birthday which saw leaders of the Sena-NCP-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition coming together. National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah was also present at the event along with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat. ''I have now become shock-proof. But when Bhujbal left the Shiv Sena, I must admit that our family was in a state of shock. The anger (that was vented) was political. We could not digest it for a long time that one of our own family members had deserted us," Thackeray said. Bhujbal, once a firebrand Shiv Sena leader, quit the Bal Thackeray-led party and joined the Congress in the 1990s. He later followed Pawar when the latter formed NCP. ''I wish my mother were there when you visited ...

Bhujbal has been suffering from ailments like diabetes, bronchal asthma, hyper-tension and has also undergone heart surgeries

Court has also extended judicial custody of Chaggan Bhujbal's nephew Sameer, a former MP, till May 11