15 NCP, Cong turncoats in Shinde camp
MUMBAI: Anger against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) trying to corner the Shiv Sena could be one reason driving their revolt, but the legislators who are part of the Eknath Shinde camp present a curious mix, with around 15 of the 39 dissidents are turncoats who made their way into the Shiv Sena after leaving the Congress or the NCP. Original Shiv Sainiks form the rest (24) of the belligerents.
Some of these defectors like minister of state Abdul Sattar, who happens to be the Shiv Sena’s only Muslim MLA, had joined the party only on the eve of the polls from the Congress and was rewarded with a ministerial berth.
Of the legislators in the Eknath Shinde camp, 15 are imports from other political formations or are seen as newbies in the Shiv Sena. They include Shrinivas Vanga, Shahaji Bapu Patil, Tanaji Sawant, Shambhuraj Desai, Mahesh Shinde, Prakash Surve, Abdul Sattar, Anil Babar, Suhas Kande, Pratap Sarnaik, Deepak Kesarkar, Sada Sarvankar (who quit Sena to join Congress and then returned to the party), Prakash Abitkar, Uday Samant and Dilip Lande.
Independents who have been given ministerial berths from the Sena’s quota like Bacchu Kadu and Rajendra Patil Yadravkar have also jumped ship from Uddhav Thackeray to the Eknath Shinde camp.
Some of these turncoats were also ministers in the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation. For instance, Uday Samant, the higher and technical education minister, who left on Sunday for Guwahati to join the Shinde camp, and Sattar.
It has been a longstanding complaint of Sena loyalists that imports into the party have a better chance of career advancement or upward mobility in the ranks compared to those who have given their best years to the organisation.
However, the rebels also include veteran Shiv Sainiks or those who have cut their teeth with the party. They include Shinde, who was groomed by Thane strongman late Anand Dighe, Bharat Gogawale, who started his electoral career as a village functionary of the Sena, Vishwanath Bhoir, Mahendra Thorve, Shantaram More, Lata Sonawane, Sanjay Shirsat, Dnyanaraj Chougule, Yamini Jadhav, Mahendra Dalvi, Sandipan Bhumare, Balaji Kinikar, Pradeep Jaiswal, Chimanrao Patil, Balaji Kalyankar, Kishorappa Patil, Yogesh Kadam, Mangesh Kudalkar, Gulabrao Patil, Dadaji Bhuse, Sanjay Rathod, Sanjay Raimulkar, and Sanjay Gaikwad.
While the presence of turncoats in the ranks of the rebels was significant, it must be noted that even veteran and hardcore Sainiks like Shinde had led the revolt, said Hemant Desai, senior journalist and commentator.
“When the Shiv Sena joined the Congress and NCP to form the government in 2019, there was resentment among the Sena legislators,” he said. “However, the aggression of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the arrests of NCP ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, and Uddhav Thackeray’s illness, health condition and isolation complicated matters, leading to the situation precipitating.”