Shiv Sena row: Uddhav, Aaditya to march across Maharashtra to seek voters' support

The beleaguered Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray will hit the roads in Maharashtra on March 5. The decision was made at a meeting on Monday at the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar, where the leader briefed his cadre of the party’s legal stance, the next steps for the ongoing and upcoming court battles and the possibility of working a new party name and symbol. He also asked his colleagues to be ready for local body elections.

“People don’t like these brazen, unconstitutional acts. They are waiting for elections. We need to go to them,” he said.

Thackeray further said that the Election Commission (EC) “should be scrapped immediately”. “There should be an election to elect the EC. We believe that the Supreme Court will give justice to our position,” he added.

He said, “During the internal issues of the Congress party in the late 1960s, the EC froze both symbols. We were expecting a similar order as a number of cases are already pending in the apex court. However, it has ruled unconstitutionally. We are sure we will win the case in the SC.”

Thackeray said he hopes the SC will hear the case chronologically – first the defection and disqualification of 16 MLAs, and then the others.

Ahead of the next week’s Assembly session, he said “the whip of Shinde group does not apply” to them.