Sanjay Raut junks claims of Shiv Sena MPs joining Eknath Shinde camp

The Shiv Sena on Monday refuted reports claiming that around a dozen party MPs were planning to join the group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and dismissed it as 'Comedy Express 2'.

In Mumbai, the Shinde group has named a new national executive of the Shiv Sena, appointing Shinde as its leader and a group of senior leaders sacked by the party to the new body.

Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Monday called several MPs to his home in the national capital to disprove the reported claims by the Shinde group, and termed the fresh development as 'Comedy Express 2' after the 'Comedy Express 1' with MLAs was played out in Mumbai.

Raut also questioned "how can they (Shinde group) dismiss the national executive' without any authority, when the matter of 16 MLAs' disqualification is scheduled to come up before the Supreme Court on Wednesday".

"They are a breakaway group which has not been recognised nor have they merged with any other party. The real Shiv Sena is here and we all are still with the party. So on what basis are they making such claims," Raut asked.

Questioning the locus standi of the Shinde group, another Sena MP, Arvind Sawant, termed the claims as "desperate attempts to create confusion" in the party and among the masses, and said that such tactics won't succeed.

The two MPs reiterated that the issue of 16 MLAs' disqualification is like a "hanging sword" even on Shinde, owing to which he has not been able to take up Cabinet expansion even 19 days after taking the oath as Chief Minister on June 30.

Certain reports have claimed that a dozen Sena MPs reportedly attended a virtual meeting convened by Shinde on Monday and they plan to meet the Chief Minister in Delhi on Tuesday amid possibility of announcing their support for him.

Among the names said to figure in the new national executive of Shinde group are ex-state minister Ramdas Kadam and former Union minister Anandrao Adsul, both of whom were sacked by Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Monday for indulging in anti-party activities.

Reacting to this, the spokesperson of the Shinde group, Deepak Kesarkar, said that nobody has the right to expel senior leaders like Kadam and Adsul from Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena.

Earlier on Monday, Kadam, whose MLA son Yogesh Kadam had joined the Shinde camp last month, tendered his resignation as a Deputy Leader of Shiv Sena.

In the resignation letter, he said that after the demise of Balasaheb Thackeray, the post of Deputy Leader had lost value. He also highlighted how he and his legislator son were harassed by the party leadership.

The ex-minister expressed grouse over how he was reportedly 'gagged' by the party leadership for the past nearly three years during which he was not allowed to speak to the media for reasons still not known to him.

Kadam reminded Thackeray of how he had "requested with folded hands" not to ally with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the 2019 Assembly elections, as it would be contrary to the principles of Balasaheb Thackeray, but he was ignored.

Last weekend, Thackeray had appointed around 100 office-bearers in the party organisation at various levels in Mumbai and other districts in a bid to consolidate the grassroots apparatus and prevent 'leaks' to the Shinde side.

--IANS

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