Scent of Dissent
Sena MLAs get fidgety, say party leaders in state cabinet giving them the cold shoulder
Believe it or not, of the 73 Shiv Sena legislators in the Maharashtra assembly, not one has contributed the Rs 1 lakh requested from them to fund a memorial to late party patriarch Bal Thackeray. This despite an appeal by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who is keen that the Balasaheb Thackeray Smarak be built in the mayoral bungalow compound in Mumbai.
The lukewarm response from the MLAs, analysts say, points to brewing dissidence in the party after the defeat at the hands of the BJP in Maharashtra’s municipal elections in February, losing eight of the 10 municipal corporations.
A SOURCE CLOSE TO UDDHAV SAYS A SHAKEUP IS IMMINENT: “YOU WILL SEE CHANGES IN A MONTH”
While no one has spoken out against Uddhav, many MLAs are now openly critical of leaders such as Subhash Desai, the state’s industries minister who is also secretary of the Bal Thackeray Memorial Committee. Their grouse is that except PWD minister Eknath Shinde, none of the Sena ministers in the Devendra Fadnavis government pays them any heed.
“We don’t want them to give us contracts to make money. We would be happy if they just listened to us,” says a Sena legislator. Complicating the situation is the allegation that the BJP has routed most of the development funds to its own constituencies, leaving Sena MLAs struggling for funds.
A Sena MLA accused state environment minister Ramdas Kadam of misusing his position to get the Ratnagiri Agriculture Institute, which he runs, totally funded by grants despite the norm of 25 per cent grant funding. Though the grant has not yet been approved, Kadam admits he met agriculture minister Pandurang Pundalik Fundkar to secure the funding.
The MLAs say Desai and Kadam have been reluctant to take on the BJP. “Uddhavji forced them to criticise the BJP,” says a Shiv Sena insider, citing the January 26 rally in which the party announced it would go it alone in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls. “He took his place on the dais only after Desai and Kadam had blasted the BJP.”
Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe says the rebellion in the party is all the media’s imagination. A source close to Uddhav, however, says an organisational shake-up is imminent: “You will see the changes in a month.”