Uddhav Thackeray likely to visit Pune amid desertion by local leaders
In Pune, some leaders in Shiv Sena have started openly showing support for chief minister Eknath Shinde
Two days after Shiv Sena clarified that former MP from Shirur Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil will remain with the party, Patil met Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Tuesday to discuss the political situation. Thackeray asked him to keep working for that party, while also promising to visit Shirur in the coming days.
On Sunday, Sena faced embarrassment as its mouthpiece carried a story saying Patil has been removed from the party. Later, they clarified that Patil will continue to be with Shiv Sena as its deputy leader. Upon his return from Mumbai, Patil remained non-committal about his next political move.
“I met Uddhavji at Mumbai. It was a curtsey visit in which he said he will soon be undertaking tour of various parts of state and will visit Shirur. I would not like to comment about my own political direction at this point,” said Patil. Patil was among few who raised voices against NCP after the formation of MVA government.
Meanwhilein Pune, some leaders in Shiv Sena have started openly showing support for chief minister Eknath Shinde.
Among those who are likely to go with Shinde camp are corporator from Kondhwa Nana Bhangire while Ex-MLA from Purandar has also indicated joining the rebel camp. Shivtare on Tuesday issued full page advertisements in local news papers congratulating Shinde on becoming CM.
Other Shiv Sena corporators in Pune city, however, are preferring to stay with Thackeray at this point.
Bhangire on his part visited Mumbai on Monday and met Shinde while praising his work as urban development minister. Bhangire is also considered to be close to Shinde. He was absent for the meeting organised by Thackeray on Tuesday. Despite attempts Bhangire could not be contacted.
Sena corporator Vishal Dhanwade said, “We are 10 Shiv Sena corporators in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). All extended support to Thackeray. There is news about Bhangire about shifting camps, but he spoke to me on Tuesday and denied such developments.”
In the 162-member PMC, BJP controlled it between 2017 and 2022 with 98 corporators, while Sena had 10 councillors, NCP 37 and Congress 19. After coming to power in the state in 2019 by aligning with Sena, the NCP is looking to regain its control over PMC, which has an annual budget of ₹6,700 crore.
In the 128-member Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Sena had only nine members while BJP with 77 seats controlled the civic body between 2017 and 2022, before the term of its members expired in March. The Nationalist Congress Party had 36 members, while Congress had 10 and MNS 1. In the upcoming elections, PCMC will elect 139 corporators, 11 more than the previous tenure.