Modi govt doesn’t treat us as equals, crib Shinde MPs

Shiv Sena MPs met with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to discuss issues such as the forthcoming civic body elections and their treatment as NDA partners. They also want their seats to be retained in the seat-sharing arrangement with the BJP and more funds. The MPs are also developing a strategy for local self-government polls and aim to win in Mumbai and Thane.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MPs had a meeting with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday evening at his bungalow to discuss various issues, including the forthcoming civic body elections. The chief grouse that came up was that they were not being given equal treatment as NDA partners by the union government. “We are now a part of the NDA, yet we are not treated on par with the others,” said veteran leader Gajanan Kirtikar. “We must get more funds and egalitarian treatment.”

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After the split in the Shiv Sena last June, 13 MPs joined the Shinde-led faction. Recognised as the official party by the Election Commission of India, they also took over the parliamentary office of the Shiv Sena. Now the MPs want their seats to be retained in the seat-sharing arrangement with the BJP, and to this end want a promise from both Shinde and the BJP. They also demanded the BJP’s active participation in campaigning when the elections come up. “We want the CM to take up the issue,” some of them said at the meeting.

The MPs also discussed the local self-government polls, which are overdue in the state. The Shinde Sena is chalking out a strategy for these, and the main goal is to win elections in Mumbai and Thane and keep the Shiv Sena (UBT) out. Since Shewale and Kirtikar are from Mumbai, they will give a boost to the party’s campaign. The Shiv Sena is tapping a lot of former corporators from the Uddhav group as possible candidates, as it has been given the symbol and the party name officially.

On Wednesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut declared that all 13 MPs of the Shiv Sena who were the first ones to defect with Shinde would be defeated, and the Shiv Sena (UBT) would win the Lok Sabha polls. To which Shiv Sena leader and state minister Shambhuraj Desai said that Raut should remember that the sitting MPs in these parliamentary constituencies had joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Meanwhile, three assembly constituencies in-charge from the Shiv Sena (UBT) in the Jalgaon-Dhule belt joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of CM Shinde.