Thackeray jolted as loyalist quits party to possibly join Shinde Sena

A close aide of Shinde was also of the belief that Salvi joining the party could work as a counter to the Samant brothers, who have almost established their monopoly in the party’s Ratnagiri unit

MUMBAI: In yet another jolt to Uddhav Thackeray, Rajan Salvi, a senior leader from the Shiv Sena (UBT), quit the party on Wednesday. He is likely to join the Shiv Sena led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday or Friday.

Thackeray jolted as loyalist quits party to possibly join Shinde Sena

Salvi, a former MLA from Rajapur, lost in the recent assembly elections to the Shiv Sena’s Kiran Samant. He had recently met Uddhav Thackeray to complain that the interference of Vinayak Raut, who is in charge of the party’s affairs in Konkan, was responsible for his defeat. Thackeray, however, rebuffed him.

On Wednesday, Salvi sent a letter to Thackeray, where he said that accepting responsibility for his defeat in the elections, he was resigning as the party’s deputy leader. He is expected to meet Shinde in Mumbai on Wednesday evening to discuss his joining the Shiv Sena.

Shinde’s move to get Salvi in his party is also seen as his effort to create a parallel leadership in Ratnagiri to industries minister Uday Samant, who has been getting cosy with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Salvi, a three-term undivided Shiv Sena MLA, chose to side with Thackeray when Shinde split the party in 2022. He later faced cases from the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau for allegedly having assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. In the last assembly election, the Shinde-led Sena fielded Kiran, brother of industries minister Uday Samant, opposite him.

Salvi was incommunicado on Wednesday.

Vinayak Raut, who confirmed that Salvi had resigned from his post, said that his joining Shinde’s party had more to do with the tussle between Shinde and the Samant brothers than any problems in the Sena (UBT).

“He was talking about joining the BJP immediately after he lost,” said Raut. “He had claimed that CM Devendra Fadnavis had promised him developmental work of ₹100 crore and a berth in the legislative council. But Fadnavis did not even meet him. He then met Eknath Shinde, who wants someone to counter the Samant brothers who are challenging Shinde’s leadership. However, Salvi is incapable of doing this; besides, the brothers have a lot of money.”

A close aide of Shinde was also of the belief that Salvi joining the party could work as a counter to the Samant brothers, who have almost established their monopoly in the party’s Ratnagiri unit.

Raut added that two more former Sena MLAs, Ganpat Kadam and Subhash Bane, could also join Shinde, as he was trying to poach leaders from the Sena (UBT) in the coastal region.

Uday Samant was in focus after Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut recently alleged the industries minister was close to Fadnavis, and the BJP could use him to split the Shiv Sena if Shinde did not toe Fadnavis’ line. Raut had even claimed that Samant was ready to join hands with the BJP, following the assembly elections when Shinde was playing hardball with the BJP after it became clear that he would not become chief minister again. Samant had denied this, saying he was loyal to Shinde, and the opposition was deliberately creating confusion in their party. Salvi is the arch- rival of Uday and Kiran Samant, who have been elected from the Ratnagiri and Rajapur assembly constituencies.

On Wednesday, Kiran Samant said that their goal was a shat pratishat (100 percent) Shiv Sena at all places, and he and Uday supported Salvi’s joining the party.

Meanwhile, on Salvi’s possible inclusion in his party, Shinde said: “Whoever joins the party is welcome. In the last two and a half years, many MPs, MLAs and corporators have joined the Sena, which works on the philosophy of Balasaheb Thackeray and Anand Dighe.”