Setback to Uddhav as ex-ministers Babanrao Gholap, Sanjay Pawar joins Shinde

Former Maharashtra minister Babanrao Gholap and ex-MLA Sanjay Pawar joined Shiv Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde. Gholap resigned from Uddhav Thackeray's camp.

Mumbai: In a fresh setback to the Uddhav Thackeray camp ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, former Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) deputy leader Babanrao Gholap and former MLA Sanjay Pawar joined chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena on Saturday.

Uddhav Thackeray

Gholap and Pawar joined the party at Shiv Sena headquarters in Mumbai in the presence of state minister Dada Bhuse and deputy chairperson of Maharashtra Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe.

Shinde said that one Rajasthan MLA had joined his party earlier and two more MLAs from Rajasthan were joining his party on Monday.

Gholap sent his resignation to Uddhav Thackeray on January 15, resigning from the primary membership of the party.

The politician has a host of cases against him. He was accused of being involved in siphoning off ₹4.5 crore from three state-run corporations into the bankrupt Awami Mercantile Bank, for which he allegedly received kickbacks. He had to resign in 1999 after allegations of corruption by Anna Hazare. In 2014, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

Gholap was unhappy about being removed as the Shiv Sena sampark pramukh for the Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency last month. He was also upset about former BJP MP Bhausaheb Wakchaure joining the Shiv Sena (UBT) in August 2023, which diminished his chances of getting a ticket.

Gholap did not attend the Shiv Sena (UBT) convention in Nashik on January 22-23, 2023, and last week was seen in a meeting held by chief minister Eknath Shinde. He was an MLA from the Nashik Road-Deolali assembly seat from 1990 to 2014. In 2014, his son Yogesh Gholap became the MLA from the constituency but lost to the NCP’s Saroj Ahire in the 2019 assembly polls.

Addressing the media, Gholap said, “The Shiv Sena UBT group did injustice to me and relieved me of many responsibilities and I asked them, but there was no reply. No one ever got back to me. Then I resigned and joined the Shiv Sena. I will undertake any responsibility that is given to me.’’

Shinde said that many people were joining Shiv Sena and such joinings will boost the party. Shinde said, “Gholap made the decision to leave the UBT group quite late and should have decided much earlier. Now from tomorrow, he will face criticism (from Shiv Sena UBT).’’

Sanjay Pawar said that he was elected from Shiv Sena in 2004 on a bow and arrow symbol and was happy to work for real Shiv Sena which has a bow and arrow symbol.