Geete to quit following Raj taunt

Sena’s lone representative in the Cabinet, Anant Geete, to resign once Modi is back from the US

MUMBAI: Anant Geete, the lone Shiv Sena member in the Union government, will resign from his post, party chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Monday after the BJP and the Sena ended a 25-year-old alliance last week.

A Sena leader said this technically means that the party, which has 18 MPs, is withdrawing its support to the BJP-led government, a move that is unlikely to affect the Central government as the BJP has a huge majority in the Lok Sabha.

The Sena was also reportedly upset with the poor representation it got in the Modi government as well as with Geete’s heavy industries portfolio.

“After PM Narendra Modi comes back from USA, our minister Geete will be putting in his resignation,” said Uddhav a day after his cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray taunted him for continuing with the BJP alliance at the Centre despite ending it in Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP ended their alliance last week after they failed to agree on the number of seats both parties would contest in the Maharashtra assembly polls even after months of negotiations.

The MNS chief attacked Uddhav on Sunday for taking too long to end the alliance with the BJP, adding that had Bal Thackeray been alive, the Sena patriarch would have ended it long ago. “Even after all the drama that has happened, Shiv Sena MPs have yet not resigned from the ministerial posts that they hold at the Centre and the parties… Had Balasaheb been there, he would have ended the alliance with the BJP a long time ago because he knew that self-respect is more important,” he said at an election rally in Mumbai.

This also put an end to a rumour that the two cousins were coming together for the Maharashtra assembly and municipal polls after the BJPSena split.