On ground, a tussle for offices as much as legacy

Shiv Sena’s chief whip Bharat Gogawale accompanied by MLA’s owing allegiance to Eknath Shinde met speaker Rahul Narwekar on Monday morning and took charge of the Shiv Sena’s party office. Until Friday, it had belonged to the Uddhav Thackeray faction

Mumbai: The battle between the Shiv Sena and the Uddhav faction moved from the confines of the Election Commission’s office to the headquarters of the Maharashtra legislative Assembly and the BMC on Monday.

Mumbai, India - February 20, 2023: BSS (Shinde faction) MLA Bharat Gogawale along with other leaders come out of Vidhan Bhavan after taking control of Shiv Sena’s party office on Monday. The Shiv Sena office in the Vidhan Sabha which is festooned with posters of Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray will soon have photos of Eknath Shinde and his mentor Anand Dighe along with Bal Thackeray, promised an MLA accompanying Gogawale. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Shiv Sena’s chief whip Bharat Gogawale accompanied by MLA’s owing allegiance to Eknath Shinde met speaker Rahul Narwekar on Monday morning and took charge of the Shiv Sena’s party office. Until Friday, it had belonged to the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

“Since ECI has recognised us as the Shiv Sena, this office now belongs to us,” he told the media. The Election Commission had on February 17 allotted the party name Shiv Sena and the symbol Bow and Arrow to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. In its reasoning, ECI claimed that the constitution of the Shiv Sena party was undemocratic and had been “mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all.”

Uddhav Thackeray has challenged the ECI’s decision in the Supreme Court and termed it as “murder of democracy.” The group also said they would be questioning Uddhav Thackeray about the ₹200 crore that belong to the party fund.

The Shiv Sena office in the Vidhan Sabha which is festooned with posters of Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray will soon have photos of Eknath Shinde and his mentor Anand Dighe along with Bal Thackeray, promised an MLA accompanying Gogawale.

The acrimony between the two factions is now palpable on ground. Fearing that Shinde’s men would also takeover the party’s office at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, former corporators from Uddhav Thackeray’s faction rushed to the civic headquarters, spear-headed by former mayor Vishakha Raut. They shouted throaty slogans and came armed with tomatoes to slay their rivals.

The Mumbai police, anticipating a face-off, ensured heavy bandobast. “We have been camping here since the morning. Now that the BMC is being run by an administrator, the Shinde camp cannot do anything,” said former corporator Sachin Padwal. In December last year, the two factions had nearly come to blows when a delegation of Shinde supporters came to meet municipal commissioner IS Chahal and tried to stake claim on the Shiv Sena’s office in the civic headquarters. Eventually police was called in and the office was sealed. Since then, Vishakha Raut revealed, corporators visit the headquarter every alternate day. “We sit outside the office on the sofas. We have not given up on our wards and people come to us with their problems and come to meet additional and deputy municipal commissioners. We take them to the respective officers and resolve their issues,” said Raut.

She claimed about 90 former corporators had attended a meeting on the weekend pledging loyalty to Uddhav Thackeray.

Sheetal Mhatre, former Shiv Sena corporator from Dahisar west, and party spokesperson for the Eknath Shinde faction however said, “Let them sit outside the Sena office in the BMC as they have no work. We are officially Shiv Sena and whatever we want to do, we will do legally. Why should we lay siege to any office? They have no legal standing to occupy those offices. Even at Mantralaya we took over the office legally. We didn’t break locks and enter. We don’t have to resort to such methods. What’s the point of sitting outside the party office for nobody visits BMC headquarters?”

Mhatre said that the lot of former corporators from Uddhav Thackeray’s faction was tragic since they did not even know what their symbol would be or the party name.

“Uddhav Thackeray or Rashmi Thackeray alone do not mean the Shiv Sena. Balasaheb had other children as well. If Nihar Thackeray (Uddhav’s nephew) claims Shiv Sena is his, what will they do?”

Mhatre emphasised that Eknath Shinde’s version of the Shiv Sena wasn’t interested in becoming owner of properties or capturing the Sena Bhavan. “Balasaheb had only two properties - the bow and the arrow symbol and the Shiv Sena name, and we now have both.”