Wife of slain Sena (UBT) leader quits as Dahisar Vibhag Pramukh

Party chief Uddhav Thackeray called her to his residence, Matoshree, shortly after she announced her decision. But she did not meet Thackeray on Tuesday amid speculations that she might join the BJP or the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena

Mumbai: Tejasvee Ghosalkar, former corporator and wife of slain Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Abhishek Ghosalkar, has quit as the Shiv Sena (UBT) Vibhag Pramukh from Dahishar owing to differences with party leaders, especially her father-in-law Vinod Ghosalkar. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray called her to his residence, Matoshree, shortly after she announced her decision on Monday evening. But she did not meet Thackeray on Tuesday citing ill health amid speculations that she might join the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Tejasvee Ghosalkar, former corporator and wife of slain Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Abhishek Ghosalkar

On Tuesday, Tejasvee confirmed to Hindustan Times that she had resigned as Vibhag Pramukh of Shiv Sena (UBT) in the Dahisar assembly segment.

“Many party functionaries were troubling me. I had been messaging my party superiors about this issue, but they chose to ignore my messages,” she said.

Tejasvee’s husband Abhishek Ghosalkar was murdered by his political rival Mauris Noronha during a Facebook Live session in 2022. She herself was a Shiv Sena corporator from 2017 to 2022 while her father-in-law and former MLA Vinod Ghosalkar was a staunch loyalist of party chief Uddhav Thackeray. When the Sena split in 2022, she chose to stay with the Thackeray faction.

Differences between Tejasvee and her father-in-law cropped up during the assembly polls in November 2024 as both wanted to contest from Dahisar. Vinod Ghosalkar eventually contested from the seat after Thackeray asked them to sort out their differences, but he lost to the BJP’s Manisha Chaudhary.

The latest dispute between the two pertains to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll that is likely to be held after the monsoon, said sources in Shiv Sena (UBT).

“Tejasvee wants to contest from ward number one in Dahisar. But her father-in-law wants his second son Saurabh to contest from the seat on a party ticket,” said a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, requesting anonymity.

After Vinod Ghosalkar asked Tejasvee to shift to another ward, she tried to reach out to the party leadership but did not get the desired response. This prompted her to quit from her party post on Monday, the leader said.

Another party leader said Vinod Ghosalkar had spoken to Uddhav Thackeray and the latter had asked him to pacify her.

Tejasvee’s aides acknowledged that she had been contacted by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as well as the BJP, but said she would take a final decision after meeting Thackeray.

Tejasvee herself refused to speak about her dispute with her father-in-law or speculations about her joining another party. Vinod Ghosalkar did not respond to requests for comment from this newspaper.