Shiv Sena (UBT) Faces Uphill Task In Pune As All Former Corporators Desert Party

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) is staring at a tough battle in Pune ahead of the municipal corporation polls, with the party losing all its former corporators in the city.

The united Shiv Sena had won 10 seats in the last Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections, which were held in 2017.

After the split in the party, two of them joined the Eknath Shinde-led faction, while others moved to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Former corporators Vishal Dhanwade, Bala Oswal, Sangeeta Thosar, Pallavi Jawale and Prachi Alhat joined the BJP, while Shewta Chavan joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Avinash Salve moved to the Congress.

Two of them -- Prithviraj Sutar and Sanjay Bhosale -- were still with the party. However, they too joined the BJP on Tuesday in the presence of Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol.

Sutar is from Kothrud, while Bhosale is from Yerawada.

Upset with Bhosale joining the BJP, the party workers staged a protest. Initially, a garland was offered to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and then the Shiv Sena (UBT) workers stomped on the photos of Bhosale, calling him a "gaddar (traitor)."

Speaking on the occasion, Sanjay Walhekar. who led the protest, said, “We have been working in the Yerawada area for the past 35 years and have taken the Shiv Sena to every household. Many Shiv Sena workers from this area have represented the party in the Pune Municipal Corporation, and Sanjay Bhosale is one of them. The party workers made him a corporator three times, but now, driven by greed for power, he has joined the BJP.

"If he had carried out development work in the ward during the last 15 years, he wouldn't have had to join the BJP today. Bhosale has wronged loyal party workers in every election so far, and now he has again wronged other aspiring candidates in the Mahayuti. Therefore, the people of the Yerawada-Gandhinagar area will surely show Bhosale his place in the upcoming elections," he added.