'Dear Shiv Sainiks, I want to free Shiv Sena from clutches of the dragon, MVA': Eknath Shinde

Pic courtesy: ANI

Mumbai: Rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde said that Sena workers must try to understand that all he is trying to do is to save the party from the clutches of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government - a coalition of Shiv Sena with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress and several other parties and independent MLAs. "Shiv Sena workers must understand that I want to free Shiv Sena and its workers from the clutches of the dragon named MVA government and I have been struggling for the same. This battle is for the betterment of party workers," tweeted Eknath Shinde in Marathi.

Shinde's appeal came after Sena workers loyal to party president and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray staged protests against the rebel MLAs led by him by defacing their banners, hurling stones in some places and vandalising the office of an MLA in Pune. Shinde and his supporters have said earlier that they want the Sena to pull out of the "unnatural" Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition with the Congress and NCP, and revive the alliance with BJP.

प्रिय शिवसैनिकांनो,
नीट समजून घ्या, म.वि.आ. चा खेळ ओळखा..! MVA च्या अजगराच्या विळख्यातून शिवसेना व शिवसैनिकांना सोडवण्यासाठीच मी लढत आहे. हा लढा तुम्हा शिवसैनिकांच्या हिता करीता समर्पित.... आपला एकनाथ संभाजी शिंदे.#MiShivsainik — Eknath Shinde - एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 25, 2022

In another video tweeted by Shinde, Shiv Sena rebel MLA Chimanrao Patil was seen saying, "We are traditionally the rivals of NCP & Congress, they are our primary challengers in constituencies. We requested CM Uddhav Thackeray that natural alliance should be done."

"We are traditionally the rivals of NCP & Congress, they are our primary challengers in constituencies. We requested CM Uddhav Thackeray that natural alliance should be done" said Shiv Sena rebel MLA Chimanrao Patil in a video tweeted by Eknath Shinde pic.twitter.com/6n5gGWCGoL — ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2022

Meanwhile, another rebel MLA Mahesh Shinde on Saturday claimed that the NCP is planning to "finish off" Shiv Sena. He claimed that NCP MLAs were getting more funds than the Shiv Sena legislators for development work in their constituencies. The rebel MLA further claimed that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray failed to stop the disparity. "As a result, the MLAs urged Eknath Shinde to play a 'big role' to save Shiv Sena. Funds were unequally distributed and the CM was aware of it. CM`s directions were overturned by the Deputy CM. NCP was trying to systematically finish Shiv Sena in their constituencies. This led to the rebellion," stated Mahesh Shinde."NCP is planning to finish off Shiv Sena... We all MLAs repeatedly complained to CM about the injustice by NCP but to no avail. So we urged Eknath Shinde to play this big role to save Shiv Sena," said Mahesh Shinde."We weren't invited to any programme. We met the CM thrice. The CM assured us. He gave a stay on many things, but the Deputy CM didn't agree and did development work of our rivals and also inaugurated them. This continuously went on," he added.

Eknath Shinde claims to have the support of 38 MLAs of the 55 Shiv Sena legislators, which is more than two-thirds of the party's strength in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. It means that they can either leave and form another political party or merge with another without being disqualified from the state assembly. According to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with the anti-defection law, any group of lawmakers can leave a party and form another or merge with another party without disqualification if they are together at least two-thirds of legislators of the party's original strength.

(With ANI inputs)