Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 18: Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on Wednesday on Thackeray versus Shinde fight for the control of the “real” Shiv Sena, the former Maharashtra chief minister and the present Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday sacked several rebels from the key party posts and replaced them with loyalists even if they come from the second rung of leadership.
In retaliation, the chief minister Eknath Shinde was quick to react, picking up the leaders discarded by the Thackeray camp and “reinstated” several of the sacked leaders who were with him, in their old posts claiming his faction to be the “real Shiv Sena” founded by the ousted CM’s father Balasaheb Thackeray.
Locked in the battle with Shinde for the control of the party formed by his father, Thackeray sacked several key leaders for anti-party activities. So far, the Team Thackeray has sacked former minister Vijay Shivtare, MLA Santosh Bangar, who was sacked as district chief of Hingoli, Naresh Mhaske as zilla pramukh (district chief) for Thane. Barring the first, both leaders have been reinstated by the Shinde camp claiming his faction to be the “real Shiv Sena.” Thackeray has also appointed more than 100 new office bearers in Thane, Palghar, Amravati and Yavatmal districts. The new office-bearers are second rung leaders elevated to the vacant posts left by rebels.
The pruning comes ahead of a crucial Supreme Court hearing on the huge political storm in Maharashtra following the rebellion by Shinde which led to the installation of the Shinde-BJP combine government ousting the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Thackeray with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress as its allies. On Wednesday, the top court will hear a bunch of petitions from both sides on the disqualification of MLAs.
Of the 55 MLAs belonging to the party, 53 are on the disqualification list of one side or the other. Thackeray has claimed that 16 MLAs of the Shinde faction, including Shinde should be disqualified.
Shinde’s faction held its own national executive on Monday, weeks after Team Thackeray held its national executive. On the June 25 national executive meet, the Team Thackeray had passed six important resolutions, reaffirming Uddhav Thackeray as the Sena chief and authorising him to take all decisions of the party.