Sena Vs Sena in Lok Sabha, Spar over Poll Symbol Claim: The Uddhav-Shinde Battle for Party's Control

The Uddhav Sena versus Shinde Sena fight has now reached the Lok Sabha with the faction led by the former Maharashtra chief minister, reduced to a minority in the Maharashtra assembly, appointing a new chief whip for the lower house, replacing MP Bhavana Gawali.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday appointed Rajan Vichare as the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, replacing MP Bhavana Gawali, party leader Sanjay Raut said.

This development came as rebel Shiv Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil on Wednesday claimed that 12 out of 19 Sena MPs would soon join the Eknath Shinde-led faction. The spread of the revolt among the MPs will be a huge disadvantage to the Sena, which, apart from having 19 members in the Lok Sabha, has three in the Rajya Sabha as well.

A day earlier, Shiv Sena Lok Sabha member Rahul Shewale had urged Uddhav Thackeray to ask party MPs to support NDA’s Presidential nominee Draupadi Murmu, considering her tribal roots and contribution to the social sector.

Why the move by Uddhav faction is significant

The move by the Uddhav Thackeray faction gains significance for two reasons. Firstly, it is being seen as an anticipatory step by the Uddhav side to prevent the Eknath Shinde faction from taking over the parliamentary party, and secondly, the choice of Vichare, who is a leader from Shinde’s home turf Thane, as chief whip suggests that former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav is has not yet given up on the battle despite being reduced to a minority in the state assembly.

Vichare is also said to have been also mentored by Anand Dighe, the deceased Sena leader who mentored Shinde too. Shinde and Vichare have in the past competed for prominence in the party, but after Shinde’s rise in the MVA in the last few years, Vichare reportedly established a cordial relationship with him.

Whips played a crucial role in the recent political crisis which culminated in the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and Eknath Shinde taking oath as the new chief minister. The factions led by Shinde and Thackeray had issued whips for voting during the election of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the trust vote of the Shinde-led government. The validity of the whips is being contested by each other.

Spar over Sena symbol

Another spar going on parallelly in the Shiv Sena is over the party symbol. Rebel Shiv Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil on Wednesday said the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was the real claimant of the party’s ‘bow and arrow’ poll symbol, a claim contested by the Uddhav Thackeray-headed camp of the saffron outfit.

“We are the real claimant of the party’s bow and arrow symbol,” he said. Lok Sabha MP from Sindhudurg Vinayak Raut, a member of the Thackeray-headed camp, challenged the rebels to declare that they have quit the Shiv Sena and dared the BJP to call mid-term elections in the state.

“The rebels have no right to claim the party symbol which was created by our father (Sena founder) Balasaheb Thackeray, ” he asserted. “We are ready for mid-term polls. The BJP should end political uncertainty in the state and call mid-term elections,” Raut said.

The former minister said the Shinde faction will restore the 56-year-old regional party’s glory. We (rebel camp) have 40 out of the 55 MLAs with us, and 12 out of 18 MPs are coming with us. So who does the party belong to? I have met four MPs personally. We also have 22 former MLAs with us, he said.

(With PTI inputs)

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