Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena will organise its event in Goregaon in northwest Mumbai.
Mumbai:
First time after the split of Shiv Sena last year, the Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray-led factions would be celebrating the party’s foundation day at separate events in Mumbai today.
The day is likely to witness both factions trying to project themselves as the “true inheritor” of party founder late Bal Thackeray’s legacy ahead of the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections.
While Shinde-led Shiv Sena will organise its event in Goregaon in northwest Mumbai, the Shiv Sena (UBT) will hold its event at Sion in central Mumbai.
In June last year, Eknath Shinde – then a minister at Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government – rebelled against his boss and toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government of the Sena, NCP and Congress with the support of 39 party MLAs.
Mr Shinde then became chief minister with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as his Deputy and the Election Commission of India subsequently granted his faction the original party name and ‘bow and arrow’ symbol. The Thackeray group was named Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, the son of chief minister Eknath Shinde, said party workers from across the state will gather for the event, news agency PTI reported.
Sena (UBT) mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ on Sunday said that Uddhav Thackeray will address the party conclave in Worli in south-central Mumbai, the Assembly seat of his son and former minister Aaditya Thackeray.
Aaditya Thackeray and senior Sena leader Subhash Desai will inaugurate the conclave. A film on the work done by Uddhav Thackeray during his tenure as chief minister will also be screened, a report in the Saamana said.
Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Ambadas Danve and Sanjay Raut, who is a Rajya Sabha member, will also address party workers at the conclave, the Saamana added.
The Uddhav Thackeray camp suffered a jolt just a day ahead of the event as its MLC joined the rival group alleging that Uddhav Thackeray is inaccessible for receiving feedback on the party affairs.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Manisha Kayande‘s cross-over is the second jolt to the Thackeray-led faction in two days. A day earlier, senior leader Shishir Shinde resigned from the party.
Bal Thackeray, a political cartoonist, founded the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966, and made the pride of ‘Marathi manoos’ (Marathi speakers in Mumbai) the core plank of its politics.
Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections as well as the long-due civic polls in Mumbai, the event is likely to witness a erbal duel as both factions are trying to claim the mantle of the `true inheritor’ of party founder late Bal Thackeray’s legacy.