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Maharashtra minister Uday Samant had claimed several incumbent and former MLAs and six MPs from Shiv Sena (UBT) were in talks to join the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra deputy CM Eknath Shinde (File)
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday openly challenged and dared his ex-party man and Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of mass desertions from the UBT faction.
Responding to the media reports of his party members joining Shinde’s Shiv Sena, Thackeray dared Shinde saying that if he is a ‘Mard ki Aulad’ (son of a man), he should keep aside ED, CBI, Income Tax and Police, and come and fight with him.
“If you (Eknath Shinde and BJP) are ‘Mard ki Aulad‘ keep aside ED, CBI, Income Tax and Police and come and fight with us. We will show you which is the real Shiv Sena,” Thackeray said as quoted by news agency ANI.
Thackeray further warned that if Shinde attempted to “break us now, we will break your head.”
The strict warning from Thackeray came after Maharashtra minister Uday Samant had claimed several incumbent and former MLAs and six MPs from Shiv Sena (UBT) were in talks to join the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
As per the sources, the Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde is leading Operation Tiger to achieve this. The Deputy CM has confirmed that preparations for Operation Tiger are complete.
Shiv Sena (UBT) has nine members in the Lok Sabha and two in the Rajya Sabha.
MPs Assert Their Allegiance To UBT Faction
On Friday, Lok Sabha members of Shiv Sena (UBT) — Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, Omraje Nimbalkar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Rajabhau Waje, Sanjay Jadhav, Nagesh Ashtikar and Sanjay Deshmukh — held a joint press conference to assert their allegiance to the party.
Sawant asserted that none of the Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs had received any phone calls and condemned the attempts to “spread rumours” about mass desertions from the Thackeray-led party.
The former Union minister said the Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs had been with the party in difficult times and would continue to do so.
Shiv Sena Split
The two outfits have been bickering since the BJP-led Mahayuti swept to power in Maharashtra in November, leaving the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition with just 46 seats in the 288-member assembly.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena won 57 seats in the recently held assembly polls, getting an upper hand over the Thackeray-led outfit, who secured just 20 seats in the 288-member assembly.
Uddhav Thackeray suffered a major jolt in June 2022 when his party split into two after senior leader Eknath Shinde rebelled. 40 MLAs out of 56 joined the Shinde faction, which led to the collapse of Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.
The rebellion was engineered by the BJP, which made Shinde the Chief Minister in the successive government. Shinde’s faction was recognised as the original Shiv Sena by the Election Commission and the assembly Speaker.
The Shiv Sena’s election symbol, the bow and arrow, was also allotted to the Shinde faction. Uddhav Thackeray had to rename his faction as Shiv Sena (UBT). The issue of the party’s official name and election symbol is under litigation as Uddhav Thackeray has challenged the Election Commission’s order in the Supreme Court.
(With inputs from agencies)
