Mumbai: Chief minister Eknath Shinde scored a hat trick on Wednesday when Speaker of the legislative assembly Rahul Narvekar recognised his faction of the Shiv Sena as the original Shiv Sena. Earlier, he had won the floor test in the assembly and later the Election Commission of India granted recognition to his party as the Shiv Sena and gave the Bow & Arrow election symbol on which the Shiv Sena had contested several elections.
Mr Shinde appears to have had a premonition of the impending victory on Wednesday because he did not remain in Mumbai when the order was being read out by Mr Narvekar. Instead, he was addressing a massive rally in far off Hingoli where he showered encomiums on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shinde Strengthens His Political Position
With Mr Narvekar's verdict Mr Shinde's political position has been majorly beefed up. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP, who was the mastermind behind the splitting of the Shiv Sena led by Mr Uddhav Thackeray and bringing down the MVA government, had repeated emphasised that Mr Shinde will continue to be the chief minister till the next assembly elections.
However, the other deputy chief minister Ajit Dada of the the NCP has been snapping at the heels of Mr Shinde with great regularity which made the CM's position somewhat shaky. But all that might be history since Mr Narvekar has effectively come around in defence of Mr Shinde's defection and subsequent formation of the coalition government with the BJP.
Shinde Getting Support Of PM Modi
Not only Mr Fadnavis, but PM Modi too seems to have taken a liking to Mr Shinde and is extending his full support to him. Now Mr Shinde's main task will be to politically finish off what is left of the original Shiv Sena so that the Maha Yuti may have more room for manoeuvre during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
As for the BJP, it has succeeded in pushing Mr Thackeray to a corner with the help of Mr Shinde. The party is also using central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to target Mr Thackeray's close associates. On the eve of Mr Narvekar's verdict the ED swooped down on two hardcore loyalists of Mr Thackeray viz Ravindra Waikar, ex-minister, and Rajan Vichare, M.P. Incidentally, Mr Vichare is an arch rival of Mr Shinde in their home turf, Thane.
The Shinde camp broke into raptures and burst firecrackers worth thousands of rupees outside the Vidhan Bhavan where Mr Narvekar was reading out the operative part of his verdict in the Central Hall.
