Sena moves against rebels, Dy Speaker slaps disqualification notices on 16
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a National Executive meeting of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai on Saturday where six resolutions were cleared by attendees, including one authorising him to take action against the rebels. His side has also challenged a move by the rebels to call themselves “Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray” in a letter to the Election Commission.
The Shiv Sena national executive decided to take action against anyone using the name of Sena or Thackeray. “Uddhav Ji said if they want to seek votes, they must do so in their fathers’ names,” Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said after the meeting which Uddhav attended in person.
The six resolutions passed in the meeting areShiv Sena will follow the Hindutva ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray; Uddhav Thackeray is authorised to make all decisions of the party; Sena will fight all elections under Uddhav’s name; Strict action will be taken against the rebel MLAs; Shiv Sena will not compromise with the ideology of a united Maharashtra; No one will have the right to use the name of the late Balasaheb Thackeray.
During the meeting, Thackeray said that rebels can do whatever they want and he won’t interfere in their matter. “They can take their own decision, but no one should use Balasaheb Thackeray’s name,” he said.
As Sena readies its action against the rebels, 16 MLAs, including Eknath Shinde, were served disqualification notices by the deputy speaker of the assembly, asking them to file their reply by 5.30pm on Monday. Party leader Aaditya Thackeray said this was a battle between “truth and lies” and “we will win.”
Congress, part of the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, said the tripartite dispensation remains strong.
Shiv Sena workers on Saturday vandalised an office of rebel Shiv Sena MLA Tanaji Sawant, who is currently in Guwahati as part of the Eknath Shinde camp.
A group of Sena workers barged into the office of Bhairavnath Sugar Works, which belongs to Sawant, and damaged the office located in Katraj area in the morning, party corporator Vishal Dhanawade, who was part of the action, said. “The ransacking of Sawant’s office is just the beginning and the offices of every traitor (rebel MLA) will be destroyed in coming days,” he said.
Sawant represents Paranda Assembly constituency in Osmanabad district. Majority of Shiv Sena MLAs have shifted their loyalty to Eknath Shinde and are camping in Guwahati, plunging the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the Sena, into a crisis.
Meanwhile, Thane Collector Rajesh Narvekar has issued prohibitory orders in the district against the backdrop of Shiv Sena strongman from the region Eknath Shinde rebelling against his party, an official said on Saturday.
The order, which will be in force till June 30, prohibits processions, display of posters and placards etc, as well as possession and carrying of lethal weapons, the official added.
Similar orders have also been issued by the Thane police commissioner. Scores of supporters of rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde assembled near his house in Thane district on Saturday with saffron flags and large portraits of party founder Bal Thackeray and regional strongman Anand Dighe.
The rebel group has demanded that the Sena withdraw from the MVA, which also comprises the NCP and Congress, and try to forge an alliance again with one-time ally BJP. Among those who addressed the gathering was Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde, who is Sena MP from Kalyan here and whose Ulhasnagar office was pelted with stones during the day by 8-10 men shouting pro-Thackeray slogans.