Sena MLA misses CM’s meeting amid talk of move to BJP

Unhappy with being left out of the state cabinet, Shiv Sena legislator Tanaji Sawant on Saturday skipped a meeting called by chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray

Unhappy with being left out of the state cabinet, Shiv Sena legislator Tanaji Sawant on Saturday skipped a meeting called by chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray amid speculations that he may join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon.

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Sawant, a legislator from Osmanabad district, was a Sena minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena government, but he was dropped by Thackeray from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government cabinet. An unhappy Sawant then helped the BJP win in the recent district council election in his district. This led to an uproar in the local unit.

In a bid to deal with the uproar as well as discuss the results of district council polls in Solapur and Osmanabad, Thackeray convened a meeting on Saturday but Sawant skipped it.

Sawant had also not attended meetings held by Thackeray during his central Maharashtra tour earlier this week.

According to party insiders, several local Sena leaders complained against Sawant. Sena leadership has not taken any disciplinary action against him though his stand led to Sena’s defeat in Osmanabad. However, his close aide Laxmikant Tonge Patil was removed from the post of Solapur district Sena chief.

Sawant was not available for a comment.

Sena leader Neelam Gorhe said, “Talks are going on between Sawant and Thackeray. Sawant is still with the Sena.”

Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “Yes, there are speculations over several unhappy legislators from MVA coming to the BJP. However, we will not get involved in anything like this now. BJP has not approached any MVA leaders .”