Maharashtra chief minister-led Shinde camp on Sunday attacked the Thackeray faction for EC’s move to freeze name and symbol of Shiv Sena saying that it did not submit affidavits despite reminders. "By criticising the Shinde camp, the Thackeray faction wants to gain sympathy in the Andheri East assembly by-poll. We have a majority and based on that we will demand a bow and arrow and we will get it," said Shinde camp spokesman and schools education minister Deepak Kesarkar on Sunday.
"We have all the documents and we have a majority. We will get justice & the symbol as well," said Kesarkar. He further noted, "Uddhav Thackeray-led party has not done anything in the past 2.5 years. Election Commission should be treated with respect and one should not insult them."
Kesarkar strongly objected to a tweet by the Thackeray faction on the poll plan saying that EC is an independent body and tweeting against it is not right. "India is a democracy and it is intact. If the verdict is against us, then it is wrong to take this position that the institution is wrong. This is dangerous for democracy," he said.
"This is not the first time that the Election Commission has taken such a decision. Earlier in Tamil Nadu also they (EC) did it in the case of Jayalalithaa and Panneerselvam. We love Balasaheb, so we love the bow and arrow. However, to get people's sympathy, to win elections, to move away from ideology, this kind of thing is going on right now," he said while blaming the Uddhav Thackeray faction.
Responding to allegations by Kesarkar, Thackeray faction MP Arvind Sawant countered his charges saying, "We submitted all the documents to EC. There was no discussion on it. They froze our party symbol. We are Shiv Sena and it's our symbol, so why don't we claim it? EC is on the same lines as the CBI and ED." "They asked us to give symbols and Uddhav Thackeray gave three symbols, ‘Trishul’, ‘Mashaal’ & ‘Rising sun’ to them. EC will decide and allot the symbol now," he added.
Further, Thackeray faction MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said, "EC has intentionally planned and came up with such an order. We don’t have time for any action as it's a weekend. Ultimately, we have time till tomorrow and Uddhav Thackeray is looking out for an option. We will submit the application for options by tomorrow."
In a related development, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule termed the EC’s move a tsunami saying that only a father and a son will remain with the Thackeray faction.
"The 12 MPs who have walked out today know that we have been elected on Modi's faith and those who are left also know this. So they are now consciously trying to recover their lost credit. Now this huge tsunami has completely destroyed the arrogance and stubbornness of Uddhav's Shiv Sena," said Bawankule.
