Shinde to launch state tour later this month

Last month, in the culmination of a power struggle, Shinde walked out of the MVA with 39 other party legislators and formed a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Mumbai In an attempt to counter Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray’s state-wide ‘Shiv Samvad Yatra,’ which aims at galvanizing the Shiv Sena’s rank-and-file after a vertical split in the party, chief minister Eknath Shinde is planning to launch his tour of Maharashtra later this month.

Following suit, Shinde is expected to begin his campaign across Maharashtra to “explain his position to the people.” (PTI)

The counter-mobilisation campaign, which will also involve legislators from the Sena’s dissident camp, who jumped ship with Shinde and helped topple the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition helmed by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, is expected to be launched from North Maharashtra or Marathwada.

Last month, in the culmination of a power struggle, Shinde walked out of the MVA with 39 other party legislators and formed a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

On Thursday, Aaditya launched his tour, covering Thane, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad (Sambhajinagar) in the first phase. Uddhav is also expected to follow suit soon and reach out to party cadres and voters to tap into the latent sympathy after his government was toppled by Shinde and the party rebels.

Following suit, Shinde is expected to begin his campaign across Maharashtra to “explain his position to the people.”

Former minister Deepak Kesarkar, who is the spokesperson of the rebel group, told HT that Shinde was likely to begin his tour after July 30, by when the expansion of his council of ministers will be completed.

A senior BJP leader claimed that the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers was expected to be held on Tuesday and the monsoon session of the state legislature would be held in the first week of August. Though Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister with former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy on 30 June, the cabinet has not been expanded so far due to the two parties being unable to hammer out a power-sharing deal.

“The chief minister will hold region-wise meetings and we all will travel with him… he will try to clarify the wrong propaganda about us,” said Kesarkar, adding that Shinde was expected to speak to the people about why he revolted against the government led by his party chief and struck an arrangement with the BJP. Kesarkar, who is an MLA from Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg district, said the tour was likely to begin from either Marathwada or North Maharashtra. Shinde may conduct his tour before and after the monsoon session.

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In another jolt for the Shiv Sena, former legislator Chandrakant aka ‘Chandubhaiyya’ Raghuvanshi from Nandurbar formally joined the Shinde camp in Mumbai on Sunday. Raghuvanshi, who is an ex-MLC, has influence in and around the Dhule and Nandurbar districts in North Maharashtra.