Mumbai: The Thane Lok Sabha seat has become a major bone of contention between the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. Shinde is extremely keen that his party field its candidate from this prestigious seat.
Thane is regarded as his home turf. This is the first major test of his popularity after he raised the banner of revolt against Uddhav Thackeray and joined hands with the BJP to oust the MVA government and occupy the CM's chair himself.
The Shiv Sena (UBT), which has fielded sitting MP Rajan Vichare, is bent upon teaching the “gaddar” (traitor) a lesson and has already started an intensive campaign. Shinde is willing to shift to Thane his son Dr Shrikant Shinde who is the MP from the neighbouring Kalyan constituency.
However, the BJP is keen on fielding Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, former Rajya Sabha MP, from Thane. But Shinde Sr is in no mood to compromise on this seat. He feels that if he does not field a candidate from Thane, then the Shiv Sena (UBT) would accuse him of fleeing from the battle field.
This will majorly dent his image as a strong leader. He has apparently told the BJP that it can field Ravindra Chavan from Kalyan and in turn he must be permitted to give the ticket to his son Dr Shrikant from Thane.
But, the BJP is unwilling to withdraw its claim over this seat where, it feels, it has a sizable organisational base. Despite hard bargaining spread over several meetings, the MahaYuti is unable to arrive at a consensus vis-a-vis Thane and a few other seats. Even the intervention of Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah has not helped matters.
