You reap what you sow: Shiv Sena taunts Khadse in scathing Saamna editorial

Since Khadse began facing a series of allegations, Sena leaders remained critical of him as it was Khadse who had conveyed to them the BJP’s decision to snap ties with the Sena before the state assembly polls in 2014 and who had later announced the same.

The Shiv Sena has had the last laugh in its long-running tiff with former revenue minister Eknath Khadse. “You reap what you sow,” read an editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna that taunted Khadse on Monday.

Eknath Khadse addressing the media about a brutal price hike by MERC, in Mumbai. (HT File Photo)

It pointed out that Khadse had played a key role in breaking ties with the Shiv Sena before the state assembly elections and that he was now facing the consequences of his action.

Sena workers in Khadse’s home-district, Jalgaon, celebrated when he was forced to resign two days earlier.

Since Khadse began facing a series of allegations, Sena leaders remained critical of him as it was Khadse who had conveyed to them the BJP’s decision to snap ties with the Sena before the state assembly polls in 2014 and who had later announced the same.

Khadse was forced to resign on Saturday over a host of allegations against him.

Among these were charges of impropriety in the purchase of a Pune plot that was in the possession of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). The land in question was bought in the name of Khadse’s wife, Mandakini and son-in-law, Girish Chaudhary.

Here, the statement of industries minister Subhash Desai, a senior Sena leader, played a key role in proving that Khadse’s clarifications were bogus.

Desai said that the land had been acquired by the MIDC and was in its possession. The MIDC comes under the state industries department.

Another attack on Khadse came from Sena MP Sanjay Raut, executive editor of Saamna. Raut said Khadse should resign owing to the serious allegations against him.

“Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray always used to say that a minister should resign from the post until he is proven innocent,” Raut had said.

On Sunday, Sena leader and MLA Gulabrao Patil from the Jalgaon Rural assembly constituency criticized Khadse at a rally organised to celebrate the former minister’s resignation. “Farmers cannot sit in a red-beacon car but they have the power to remove anyone’s red-beacon. Such an arrogant leader needs to be taught a lesson like this,” Patil told the gathering.

Monday’s editorial in Saamna rejected Khadse’s complaints of a trial by media, saying circumstantial evidence was responsible for his ouster.

“Khadse always boasted that he conveyed the decision to break ties with the Sena. Today he is facing the result of his action. Those who came in the way of the Sena are either politically sidelined or arrested,” said the editorial.