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In yet another blow to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, sixty-six former Shiv Sena corporators of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) on Thursday extended support to the Eknath Shinde camp. Uddhav Thackeray had recently lost his party MLAs to the Eknath Shinde group which resulted in the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
The term of the 131-member TMC, which has been a stronghold of the Shiv Sena, ended sometime back and its elections are due.
A press release from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's office said the 66 former Sena corporators, led by ex-mayor Naresh Mhaske, met the chief minister at his 'Nandanvan' bungalow in Mumbai on Wednesday night and extended support to him.
Uddhav Thackeray resigned from his post on June 29, following the Supreme Court order to allow the floor test as per the Governor's directions.
Backed by 40 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and Independents, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30.
Eknath Shinde, who joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a government in Maharashtra, won the crucial floor test in the state Assembly on Monday, July 4. BJP leader and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had taken oath as Eknath Shinde's deputy CM.
A week after Uddhav Thackeray lost the CM chair to Eknath Shinde, 66 of the 67 Thane ex-corporators extended support to Eknath Shinde.
Even though it has been a week since Eknath Shinde took oath as the new chief minister, the Maharashtra political crisis has refused to die down with both the factions -- one led by Uddhav Thackeray and another led by rebel Eknath Shinde -- claiming they represent the original Shiv Sena.
Meanwhile, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil, a minister in the previous Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, has claimed that 12 MPs are supporting Eknath Shinde.
He had also claimed that 12 out of 18 Sena MPs would soon join the Shinde-led faction. "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.
The two factions are also sparring over the Shiv Sena's 'bow and arrow' symbol. "We are the real claimant of the party's bow and arrow symbol," Gulbarao Patil was quoted as saying by PTI.