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Mumbai: A day after members of the rival Shiv Sena factions came face-to-face in the premises of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday lashed out at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS), remarking that they would next stake claim to the Rashtriya Swayam Sangh (RSS) office in Nagpur in the same way in which they were trying to steal the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBTSS) faction office in the BMC.
High drama ensued for an hour on Wednesday evening after Shinde faction members including North Central Mumbai Lok Sabha MP Rahul Shewale, former BMC standing committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav and former corporator Sheetal Mhatre entered the Sena party office and reportedly got into an altercation with some corporators of the Thackeray group who objected to their presence. After much raucous sloganeering by both factions, the police cleared leaders from both the Sena camps from the BMC premises.
Speaking in Nagpur on Thursday, UBTSS leader and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray lashed out against what he called the ‘character’ of the Shinde faction. It may be recalled that Thackeray led MVA government was toppled following Eknath Shinde led an intra-party revolt which split the Sena down the middle.
Thackeray remarked, “They (Shinde faction and the Bharatiya Janata Party – BJP) first stole our leaders (MLAs and MPs), they stole the party and now they are trying to steal our party office (in the BMC). There is a feeling in people’s minds that this is how this government (Shinde-Fadnavis government) thrives? People who do not have the guts to do anything keep stealing offices. Today I heard that he (Eknath Shinde) went to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. The RSS better stay alert lest he stakes claim on their office as well.”
Following Wednesday’s incident, BMC Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal later in the day sealed the offices of all political parties, leading to protests from the BJP and the Congress.
Meanwhile, Uddhav camp loyalist and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut dubbed the Shinde faction leaders as “infiltrators”. He further warned the BSS faction leaders against attempting a similar move to ‘take over’ the Sena Bhavan located at Central Mumbai’s Dadar area.
The Sena chief spokesperson remarked, “The Shiv Sena Bhavan belongs to the ‘real’ Shiv Sainiks and was built by Balasaheb Thackeray. It is ours. If you’ll (BSS) use provocative language and talk of seizing it, then we are ready for you.” He further dared the Shinde-led BSS faction to quit their memberships and contest the elections. He further stressed that all 96 corporators of the Shiv Sena in the BMC stood firmly behind the Uddhav Thackeray led UBTSS faction.
The latest face-off between the rival factions and acrimonious rhetoric is the reflection of the underlying tensions between the two factions in the run-up to the ensuing high-stakes BMC polls. The cash-rich BMC, said to be the richest civic body in Asia, has been the power-support base of the Thackeray clan for over two decades now.
However, following Eknath Shinde’s intra-party revolt which was allegedly assisted by the BJP under deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the new coalition is gunning for victory in the upcoming poll by ousting the Uddhav Thackeray faction from its throne in the BMC.
The Sena faction under Uddhav Thackeray has held absolute sway over the BMC for well over two decades. It may be recalled that the BJP riding high on the ‘Narendra Modi wave’ had rattled its former ally bagging 82 of the total 227 seats in the 2017 BMC poll, coming close second only to the Sena’s tally of 84 seats. The Sena’s strength later increased to 97 with the support of independents and the defection of some corporators from the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
