Whenever there is a revolt in Shiv Sena, one name always crops up and that is Milind Narvekar. Several leaders have blamed him for the miscommunication with Sena leadership.
Who is Milind Narvekar?
Shiv Sena leader Milind Narvekar is the personal assistant of CM Uddhav Thackeray.
When Narayan Rane quit Sena, he accused Narvekar of creating a communication gap between him and leadership and not taking his calls.
Now, Eknath Shinde, in the letter he had posted on behalf of MLAs, has mentioned the word 'middlemen' (Badve) who are in the communication channel with Uddhav Thackeray.
Here's what letter posted by Shinde said?
As the political crisis in Maharashtra further deepened, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Thursday tweeted a letter addressed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and captioned it "This is the sentiment of MLAs".
Shinde shared a letter written by Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat from the Aurangabad (West) Assembly seat and dated June 22 in which he claimed that the Shiv Sena MLAs did not have access to the chief minister's residence.
"CM never used to be in the Secretariat, instead, he used to be in Matoshree (Thackeray residence). We used to call people around the CM but they never used to attend our calls. We were fed up with all these things and persuaded Eknath Shinde to take this step," the MLA wrote in the letter.
"It was nice to see people are being allowed inside your Bungalow but these doors were closed for us elected MLAs. We came with our problems in our constituencies and other work but were made to remain outside for hours together. Eknath Shinde was on the other hand, was accessible. We stood at the gates of 'Varsha' for hours. It was only Eknath Shinde who supported us," the letter further added.
The letter also alleged that "People around the CM used to decide if we can meet him or not. We felt we were insulted. CM never used to be in the Secretariat, instead, he used to be in Matoshree (Thackeray residence). We used to call people around the CM but they never used to attend our calls. We were fed up with all these things and persuaded Eknath Shinde to take this step."
"While we weren't able to meet the CM, people from our 'real opposition'-- the Congress and the NCP used to get opportunities to meet him and even funds were given to them related to work in their constituencies. When Hindutva and Ram Mandir are crucial issues for the party, then why did the party stop us from visiting Ayodhya? MLAs were called and were stopped from going to Ayodhya during Aaditya Thackeray's visit to Ayodhya."
After many requests to meet CM for constituency work, for other issues, for personal difficulties, a message would come from Badwa (middleman) calling you to Varsha Bungalow but it would be kept standing at the gate of the bungalow for hours. If I called then many times, they would not receive the call.
Meanwhile, another Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande on Friday joined the camps of rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde at Guwahati hotel in Assam.
Shinde has claimed that he has the support of 38 Shiv Sena MLAs.
