Ahead of Maharashtra Assembly election, on Wednesday around 300 Shiv Sena members resigned after party fails to field candidates in Pune city.
According to Mid-Day, only one candidate is contesting independently from the prominent Kasba constituency. Sena workers in Pune city are struggling to stay relevant as not a single candidate from the party got a ticket for the state polls. All eight seats in Pune city — Kasba, Parvati, Hadapsar, Kothrud, Shivajinagar, Wadgoansheri, Khadakwasla, and Cantonment, have been given to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates.
During nomination filing, there had been agitations and a few candidates had registered as candidates. All members eventually withdrew their nominations, except Vishal Dhanwade from Kasba constituency. Vishal Dhanwade told the Mid-Day, "This constituency is the birthplace of Sena founder Balashaheb Thackeray and we were hoping that Shivsaniks will get to contest as Bapat is now an MP. My fight is for every Shivsainik. We are ready to face any action. We believe in our party and will continue to serve it. This fight is for the party's existence."
Earlier, More than 200 Navi Mumbai Shiv Sena workers including the city chief and district vice-president have submitted resignations. The leaders are allegedly upset over reports that the Airoli and Belapur seats have been offered to the BJP, especially to new defector from NCP Ganesh Naik.
