Now Shinde Sena wants slice of Uddhav’s trade union pie

Kiran Pawaskar, head of the Eknath Shinde-led Sena’s Rashtriya Kamgar Sena (RKS), claimed that their trade union had taken over Bombay Hospital, which was hitherto controlled by the Uddhav faction’s Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS)

Mumbai: After getting the undivided Shiv Sena’s top leaders in the party split last June, chief minister Eknath Shinde’s eye is now on the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s trade unions. The latter have been the real powerhouse of the party right from the 1960s when Bal Thackeray launched the Sena.

Now Shinde Sena wants slice of Uddhav’s trade union pie

On Monday, Kiran Pawaskar, head of the Eknath Shinde-led Sena’s Rashtriya Kamgar Sena (RKS), claimed that their trade union had taken over Bombay Hospital, which was hitherto controlled by the Uddhav faction’s Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS). “Over 600 employees, including nurses and ward boys, have joined us,” he told Hindustan Times. “The majority of staffers are now in our union. About 250 are still with the BKS.”

The BKS, which played a major role in the growth of the Shiv Sena in its initial years in the 1960s, has always been a vital outfit of the party. Sena founder Bal Thackeray ensured that his key leaders headed the trade union. After the death of BKS chief Suryakant Mahadik, Uddhav Thackeray appointed MP Arvind Sawant as its chief.

Pawaskar, who was general secretary of the BKS from the 1980s, defected from the Sena-UBT to join the Eknath Shinde faction after the split in the party last year. To bolster his claim about taking over Bombay Hospital, he said that his union had had a gate meeting with workers and a meeting with the management with a plea to recognise RKS as the official union.

The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has plans to “take over” the rest of the unions from BKS in the next few months. Pawaskar claimed that his union was generally on an acquisition spree. “Nearly 37,000 employees belonging to the Janaseva Kashtakari Sanghatana in the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, joined the RKS recently,” he said. “Around 4,500 teachers in BMC schools have also joined us.”

BKS chief Arvind Sawant, however, dismissed Pawaskar’s claims and called him “bogus”. “To prove himself, he has to show that he is doing something for his party,” he said. “Many people have lost their jobs only because of him.” Added Sanjay Sawant who heads the BKS unit at Bombay Hospital, “Only 100 persons have crossed over to the RKS. And they have a history of changing unions many times.”

The Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti, started in the 1960s for employment for locals, is another vital backbone of the Shiv Sena (UBT). Headed by veteran Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar for decades, the Uddhav faction got a jolt when Kirtikar left the party last year to join the Shinde Sena. The body is now headed by Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai while the Shinde Sena has plans to similarly use Kirtikar’s services for the cause of the Marathi manoos.