Bhushan Desai, son of former industries minister Subhash Desai, joined Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction on Monday.
Subhash has been a trusted lieutenant of Uddhav Thackeray’s family for several years.
Last month, the Election Commission gave the Shiv Sena name and the bow-and-arrow party symbol to the faction led by Shinde, who revolted against Uddhav Thackeray and replaced him as the chief minister, joining hands with the BJP last year.
The Uddhav camp later approached the Supreme Court which refused to stay the Election Commission’s order recognising the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and allocating it the “bow and arrow” poll symbol.
On Sunday, Aaditya Thackeray alleged the Election Commission is “completely compromised” and said its decision to recognise the Shinde faction as the Shiv Sena and allot it the bow and arrow symbol was dangerous for democracy.
He said the acronym “CM” of Maharashtra currently stands for a “corrupt man”, and that the “illegal and unconstitutional chief minister will surely go”.
Addressing a meeting of the party workers in North Mumbai, Thackeray said the flaming torch (Mashaal) symbol allotted to Shiv Sena (UBT) is the only light that will brighten the darkness caused by the betrayal and back-stabbing.
He said the rebel MLAs led by Shinde had done the “dirty work” of toppling a government which had done good work of tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating hardships of farmers affected by the cyclone and unseasonably rains when in power.
“The Maha Vikas Aghadi government was leading Maharashtra to a golden period. An investment of Rs 6.5 lakh crore was made during the MVA rule of 2.5 years and 93 per cent of the investment proposals had been implemented,” the former minister said.
In the first national executive meeting of Shiv Sena held in Mumbai on February 21 under Eknath Shinde, it was decided that Shinde will remain the “chief leader” of the party.
In a 78-page order on the protracted battle for control of the organisation, the Election Commission said the MLAs backing Shinde got nearly 76 per cent of votes polled in favour of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The MLAs in the Uddhav Thackeray camp got 23.5 per cent of the votes polled in favour of the winning Shiv Sena candidates, the three-member Commission said.
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