Shiv Sena seeing double: Shinde reinstates office bearers sacked by Uddhav

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde has started making his own organizational appointments, overriding those made by Uddhav Thackeray.

After engineering a vertical split in the Shiv Sena and walking away with over two-thirds of the party’s 55 legislators. Eknath Shinde is now moving to wrest control of the party’s organization. He has started making his own organizational appointments, overriding those made by Uddhav Thackeray.

Eknath Shinde (Praful Gangurde/ HT Photo)

On Friday, Shinde reinstated former Thane mayor Naresh Mhaske as the Thane district chief of the Shiv Sena. Mhaske had resigned as the Thane district chief after Shinde launched his rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray last month. Mhaske and 65 other corporators in the outgoing Thane Municipal Corporation later joined Shinde’s camp.

Shinde reinstated Mhaske to the party position and guided him on expanding the organization in Thane and Palghar. Certain other office bearers who, he claimed, had been removed from their positions in an arbitrary manner were also reinstated. MLA Santosh Bangar who served as the Shiv Sena’s Hingoli district president and who had dramatically shifted his loyalties from the Uddhav camp to Shinde the night before the floor test in the legislature, was also reinstated. He had earlier been terminated from his organizational position by Uddhav.

The bad blood between the two camps now threatens to spill onto Mumbai’s streets. Two workers, loyal to Thackeray were attacked by 3 men on a moto bike in Byculla on Friday. The Byculla constituency is represented by Shiv Sena MLA Yamini Jadhav who has since jumped ship and gone over to the Shinde faction.

Uddhav Thackeray went to the local shakha to express solidarity and seek action against the culprits.

Police said they have registered a non-cognisable case under section 427 of the Indian Penal Code (mischief causing damage) and have obtained necessary permission from the court to investigate the matter, said Ashok Khot, senior inspector, Byculla police station.

A Shiv Sena leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity admitted that Shinde was trying to split the 282-member strong national executive of the party which includes functionaries like leaders, deputy leaders and district presidents. Claiming to represent the legacy of Hindutva as espoused by Bal Thackeray and Anand Dighe, Shinde’s faction has been saying they, and not Uddhav’s party, constitute the “original” Shiv Sena.

In a warning to Uddhav Thackeray to desist from violence, Eknath Shinde, while speaking at a function in central Mumbai on Friday, said: “We don’t want to do anything but if we are troubled, we have kalakars (artists) who will show their artistry and you won’t even come to know.”