Shiv Sena fallout: Mass exodus to Eknath Shinde camp continues, 32 corporators extend support to new CM
The mass exodus in Shiv Sena continued on Thursday with as many as 32 party corporators of Navi Mumbai extending support to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
After meeting Shinde, the corporators highlighted the same issues as the other rebel MLAs, who left the Thackeray-led Sena, including inaccessibility of party chief and its MPs.
“We’ll be with him. He never declined anybody’s phone call. Even if an ordinary party worker calls him up, he receives the call. It feels good,” they said while joining the rebel camp.
After opening rebellion against Thackeray, Shinde had tweeted a letter from a rebel MLA which alleged inaccessibility to the chief minister’s residence. It also charged that Sena MLAs were not given funds for developmental works in their constituencies whereas NCP and Congress MLAs received funds easily.
The development comes amid reports of differences among Sena’s 18 MPs over supporting NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. The Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray was part of the opposition deliberations and supported the candidature of joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
The Indian Express has reported that 12 out of 18 parliamentarians of from Sena may jump ship to Shinde Camp after one of them — Rahul Shewale — wrote to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray asking him to support Murmu’s candidature, owing to her trials roots.
The 18 MPs, who have stood by Uddhav so far, are also believed to be anxious knowing that without the support of elected party members in their respective constituencies, it would be difficult for them to win the next elections.
Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra, recently hinted at the “rebellions” still to come in the Sena. “There are countless unhappy members representing Parliament, zilla parishads, corporations, gram panchayats, who will take drastic decisions soon,” he said.
The Shinde Camp is confident of the split to run horizontally across all the bodies of the party till it reaches the grassroots.