Thackeray, Shinde camps in tug of war over Dussehra

MUMBAI: The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction are now at loggerheads over Dussehra rallies in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena, since the time of Bal Thackeray, has addressed the Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar. However, this year, Shinde’s group, which calls itself the real Shiv Sena, has also sought permission from the civic body to hold the rally at Shivaji Park and Bandra Kurla Complex.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has given permission to Shinde’s camp to hold a rally on the festive occasion at BKC, saying that they had applied before the Uddhav-led Shiv Sena.
“We have not taken any decision of giving permission to Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to hold the rally at Shivaji Park. We have received two applications — from Shinde’s camp and Thackeray’s Sena — and so we have sought legal opinion,” a BJP official said.

Meanwhile, Uddhav, in his meeting with party leaders, said that the Sena will not move to any other location at any cost. “We have been traditionally holding the Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park. Some people are trying to snatch the location from us, but come what may, we will have our rally at Shivaji Park only,” Thackeray said. 

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said the BMC has taken the easy route by granting permission to Shinde camp for BKC. “We came to know the BMC used the first-come-first-served criteria for permission for BKC venue. The same criteria and logic should be used for Shivaji Park as well, for which we were the first party to apply,” he said.

New institute on lines of NITI Aayog 
On the lines of NITI Aayog, Maharashtra government will set up its own policy-making Aayog called Institute of Transformation that will be independent and guide the government. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said that they had a meeting with NITI Aayog CEO and his team on Sunday.“The meeting was chaired by CM Eknath Shinde. We are keen to set up our own Institute of Transformation,” Fadnavis said.