Mumbai: Raj Thackeray's split from the Shiv Sena has begun to rock the party as 2,500 Sena workers from the Kural area of Mumbai decided to join the Raj Thackrey Camp.
On Sunday, 1,337 Sainiks, led by two-term corporator Dilip Lande sent letters to Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, stating they were resigning the party.
The number has now gone up to 2,500.
Meanwhile, Bunty Mashelkar, a former Sena leader of south-central Mumbai and a supporter of Raj, said that several more Sainiks from south-central Mumbai will soon quit the Sena and join Raj's new party.
"The process of Sainiks resigning from the party has begun and nobody can stop it now," he said.
The resignation by such a large number of sainiks is a major blow to Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray.
Raj is on a two-month tour of Maharastra to gauge the mood of the sainiks and will come out with a political resolution after the tour.
He had also met with Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani during the silver jubilee convention of the BJP.
While Raj had said he only went to "seek their blessings", Uddhav's group dubbed it as insignificant.
"We don’t think the BJP will be joining hands with Raj. He hasn't even formed a party and it wouldn't be feasible for Advani to take him in at the moment," one Shiv Sena leader said.
Meanwhile, there are chances that Uddhav may seek resignation of leaders who had moved over to Raj's side but are still holding on positions they bagged under the Sena.
A leader of the party, Vijay Loke, ordered them to vacate their positions before defecting to the rebel camp.
Those issued the diktat include Yashwant Killedar, Prakash Darekar and Dilip Karande, who became senate members at Mumbai University with the Sena’s backing.
Similarly, activists who have quit the party but are still holding onto posts in panchayat, zilla and nagar parishads have been asked to vacate.
Comments
0 comment