Mumbai: After throwing his hat in the ring for the post of Deputy Chief Minister, Sena Minister Eknath Shinde is resorting to subtle pressure tactics, putting the party leadership in a quandary. The drama unfolded behind closed doors on Thursday evening when Shinde, the Minister for Public Works
Department, descended on Matoshree with a procession of 32 leaders, including legislators and a minister of state. To avoid media glare, Shinde entered the Thackeray residence from the back door; they were inside for almost 45 minutes.
Shinde, of course, tried to project the apparent show of strength as a courtesy visit, claiming he had brought the legislators along to wish Aaditya on his birthday.
Aaditya addressed the legislators when they met and wished him. They were offered Bundi Laddoos and Samosas and in the middle of their interface, they were joined by Uddhav for a few minutes.
“I want to see double the number of legislators in the forthcoming assembly elections. You all have to work hard for this,” Aaditya said in a message to the legislators.
This visit, seemingly a courtesy call, is being seen by political observers as a last ditch effort by Shinde to spoil the chances of party’s senior-most leader Subhash Desai, who is tipped to be elevated as Deputy Chief Minister.
The Deputy Chief Minister’s post has caused a lot of heartburn in the Shiv Sena and also ignited internal bickering. It is essentially a clash of an old Thackeray loyalist with a young leader who commands respect in the party.
Some Sena legislators are strongly opposed to Desai’s leadership. According to them, Desai does not have a good rapport with them and is only known for his proximity with the Thackeray family. They further accuse him of not paying attention to their work matters and suggestions.
Between 2009 and 2014, when the Sena was in opposition, Desai was Leader of the Sena in the Assembly. However, his performance was dismal and he failed to corner the Congress-NCP government.
Moreover, Desai had lost in the 2014 assembly elections and later even failed to ensure the victory of Sena candidates in the BMC elections from his constituency in Goregaon.
Despite this, he was first nominated to the Legislative Council and also made the Industries Minister. His probable appointment as Deputy Chief Minister has irked some Sena legislators and party workers who came to Shinde to air their grievance.
Prominent leaders who met Thackeray on Thursday were MOS for Cooperatives Gulabrao Patil, MOS for Revenue Sanjay Rathod and MOS Water Resources Vijay Shivtare. The MLAs present were Sunil Prabhu, Prakash Surve, Ramesh Latke and Sanjay Shirsat.
By Pramod Chunchuwar
