Sena (UBT) leaders, workers quit en masse, make beeline for Mahayuti

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) faces exodus of over 30 local leaders to BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena post-election loss, impacting local body poll prospects.

MUMBAI: After its drubbing in the assembly elections, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has started losing its local leadership in cities across the state. Over 30 local leaders, including former corporators and office-bearers, have left the party to join the BJP and the Shiv Sena, an outflux that could affect the prospects of the Sena (UBT) in the upcoming local body polls.

Sena (UBT) leaders, workers quit en masse, make beeline for Mahayuti

Since Sunday, leaders from Dhule, Sakri, Ahilya Nagar, Palghar, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Solapur have been leaving the Sena (UBT) to join the ruling Mahayuti’s parties, in particular the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP. Some have also joined the NCP led by Ajit Pawar, among them former MLA of Mukhed Avinash Ghate, former corporator Sandip Patil, former member of the Nanded zilla parishad Vyankatrao Patil and Sahebrao Dhanage.

On Sunday, 15 former corporators, over 15 key office-bearers and hundreds of party workers from Dhule, Sakri, Palghar, Navi Mumbai and Ahilya Nagar left the party and joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of deputy CM Eknath Shinde at Thane. On Tuesday, five former corporators from Pune, including Pallavi Jawale, Vishal Dhanavade, Bala Oswal, Prachi Alhat and Sangita Thosar joined the BJP.

Shinde claimed that the inflow to his party from the Thackeray faction was the response to the people’s verdict regarding the “real” Shiv Sena. “During the assembly elections, Uddhav Thackeray said that he was going to the court of the people of Maharashtra to seek their verdict on the real Shiv Sena,” he said. “People elected 57 of our MLAs and showed him which the real Shiv Sena is. This flow of party workers joining the Shiv Sena will only increase in the coming days.”

Despite the fact that the exodus could affect the party’s performance in the upcoming local bodies elections, the party leadership has decided not to try to stop anyone. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, while speaking to the media, said, “We have never tried to stop anyone from leaving and will not do it in the coming days either. The people leaving the party and joining the ruling parties are doing so for personal gains. They are not worried about their cities or Maharashtra. So we are not going to stop anyone. You will see a new generation of leaders emerge in the coming days and elections.”