Mumbai: The first national executive meeting of the Shiv Sena under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was held in Mumbai on Tuesday. The executive elected Shinde as ‘chief leader of the party’ at the meeting and, furthermore, passed a resolution giving Shinde all the rights to decide on the formation of the national executive. Another key resolution states that local youths should be given 80 per cent of the jobs in all the industries being set up in Maharashtra.
At the meeting, it was also accepted by all the members present that the new party would follow the guidelines issued by the Election Commission in its order. A three-member disciplinary committee has been set up, which will be chaired by mining minister Dada Bhuse.
CM Shinde and other dignitaries addressed the national executive
The national executive was addressed by CM Shinde, Member of Parliament Gajanan Kirtikar, Ramdas Kadam, Anandrao Adsul and others. Briefing the media, the industry minister said that the executive had passed a number of resolutions in the interests of the state and the party.
To begin with, the Shiv Sena has demanded a posthumous Bharat Ratna for V D Savarkar. Another resolution has sought the inclusion of Jijabai, the mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Ahilyabai Holkar, in the list of the nation’s great personalities. A resolution was also passed for renaming Churchgate as Chintamanrao Deshmukh station.
Shinde asked his colleagues to pledge to work with ideology of Hindtuva espoused by Bal Thackeray
Addressing the party’s first meeting, Shinde asked his colleagues to pledge themselves to the ideology of Hindutva espoused by Bal Thackeray. In his speech, he also mentioned that the party would take steps in the interests of Maharashtra when it came to political alliances.
Clearing the air on the possibility of Shinde’s laying claim to the coffers of the Shiv Sena,now in charge of the theThackeray faction, the CM said, “We are not interested in money or property or anything. The ideology of Balasaheb is important. All property claims are false and he would never get embroiled in such things.” The national executive also thanked the EC for being impartial in the case of allotment of the party name and symbol.
Siddhesh Kadam, the son of Ramdas Kadam, has been appointed party secretary.