A day after raids on a close associate of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray in the BMC field hospital for Covid scam case, the BMC demolished a Shiv Sena (UBT) "shakha" (office or branch) in Bandra East near the railway station in Nirmal Nagar area, not very far from Uddhav Thackeray's residence Matoshree. Video showed bulldozers in action near the spot of the shakha that was brought down by the BMC on Thursday. Police was present at the spot when the shakha or office was demolished.
Metal detector at Matoshree removed
Earlier in the day, reports emerged that a metal detector installed at the gates of Uddhav Thackeray's residence "Matoshree" was removed by the authorities on Thursday. The action by the BMC comes in the wake of continued war of words between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena Uddhav faction leaders including Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray.
Barbs traded at June 19 Foundation Day programme
On June 19, both factions of the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray respectively, indulged in name calling and attacked each other on Shiv Sena's foundation day programmes. While the Uddhav Thackeray group called for June 19 to be termed as "traitors day", the Shinde faction and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde once again attacked Uddhav for "abandoning" the late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology by joining hands with the Congress party.
Growing acrimony
The acrimony between Eknath Shinde group and Uddhav Thackeray loyalists only seems to be growing with every passing day. In 2022, Eknath Shinde along with MLAs supporting him broke away from the Uddhav Thackeray led Sena. Eventually, Shinde with the support of majority of party MLAs joined hands with the BJP and formed government in Maharashtra as Uddhav resigned ahead of the floor test. Earlier this year, the Election Commission had ordered that the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena will get the official Shiv Sena party name as well as the bow and the arrow symbol of the Sena.
