KALYAN: The Kalyan Lok Sabha District President, Sadanand Tharwal of Shiv Sena, led by Uddhav Thackeray, resigned from the party, expressing his displeasure after Dipesh Mahatre, who recently joined Uddhav Thackeray's UBT from Shiv Sena, was given the Assembly ticket in Dombivli.
Tharwal, who was keen to contest the election from the Dombivli Assembly, was unhappy with the party giving the ticket to Mhatre.While submitting his resignation to Party Chief Uddhav Thackeray, Tharwal asked, "If those who remain loyal during the period of struggle are ignored, then what is the result of loyalty?"
Tharwal wrote a two-page letter mentioning many things. He expressed surprise that those who criticise senior leaders, including Aditya Thackeray, at the lowest level are rewarded for betraying.
Tharwal also stated in the letter that those who supported the party in its difficult times and worked for them are now being ignored, while those who broke the party are being brought back and given assembly tickets. This has saddened the real Shiv Sainiks.
It may be recalled that Tharwal was associated with Shiv Sena since 1980. Two years ago, when the party split into two factions, there were very few Shiv Sena leaders or functionaries in Thane district who stayed with Uddhav Thackeray because most of the leaders and corporators joined Shinde's Sena.
Dipesh Mahatre was also one of them. However, at such a time, there were people like Sadanand Tharwal who did not leave Uddhav and stood with the party.
Tharwal worked a lot for Vaishali Darekar in the last Lok Sabha election, who received about 4 lakh votes against the son of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Therefore, his departure from the party just before the assembly elections could prove to be harmful for Uddhav Thackeray in this area.