Rathod, Gawali supporters ‘axed’ in Sena Ytl rejig

Yavatmal: In a bid to cut down to size leaders sitting on the fence amid the tug-of-war between the Shiv Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde, the party chief reconstituted district and tehsil units, keeping at bay supporters of sitting Digras MLA Sanjay Rathod and sitting MP Bhavana Gawali.
According to sources, district contact chief Madhukar Deshmukh had called a meeting of all party members on July 8 and those who stayed away were considered close to the breakaway group led by Shinde. Following the meeting, Deshmukh declared the names of party office-bearers in all 16 tehsils.
Gawali’s trusted lieutenant Nitin Bangar, who was the city chief, has now been replaced by Nilesh Belokar, while former MLA Balasaheb Munginwar has been appointed as the new district contact chief.
According to sources, Deshmukh has obtained affidavits from all the newly appointed office-bearers affirming their unfettered allegiance to the party and its chief Uddhav Thackeray. Rathod is also learnt to have sought affidavits from his supporters.
Earlier also, Rathod and Gawali had locked horns over the appointment of district chief. Gawali had secured stay on the appointments made by Rathod, who had named Parag Pingle as the district head.
As the battle of one-upmanship between Rathod and Gawali continued, Uddhav Thackeray, in a bid to pacify both the leaders, had appointed three district chiefs — Parag Pingle, Vishwas Nandekar, and Rajendra Gaikwad.
All the three district chiefs have publicly expressed solidarity with Thackeray and demanded expulsion of Rathod and Gawali from the party.
Meanwhile, Pingle informed the media through a press release on Sunday that the Shiv Sena would contest the forthcoming local self-government body elections and only loyal party workers would be given ticket.