Shinde loyalist Naresh Mhaske resigns as Thane district president of Shiv Sena amid crisis

Amid massive Maharashtra political tussle, Eknath Shinde loyalist Naresh Mhaske on Saturday resigned as the Thane district president of Shiv Sena in a protest against the “attitude” of MVA constituent NCP but stressed he will always remain a Shivsainik. 

The former Thane mayor Naresh Mhaske in his resignation letter to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that Shivsainiks are feeling politically ‘suffocated’ because of “Rashtravadi” (NCP) in the last two-and-a-half years. 

In his letter, Naresh Mhaske said, “I am resigning as the Thane district president of Shiv Sena but will continue to remain a Shivsainik forever.”

Naresh Mhaske said Shivsainiks believe in the aggressive Hindutva. Notably, he is perhaps the first functionary of Shiv Sena from Thane, which also happens to be the hometown of Shinde, to resign from his post. Naresh Mhaske, the Sena stalwart from Thane is currently camping in Guwahati along with a bulk of Sena MLAs.

Notices sent to Shinde camp MLAs 

Shiv Sena sought the disqualification of rebel MLAs- Eknath Shinde, Chiman Rao Patil, Balaji Kalyankar, Sanjay Raimulkar, Ramesh Bornare, Mahesh Shinde, Abdul Sattar, Sandipanrao Bhumre, Bharatshet Gogawale, Sanjay Shirsat, Yamini Jadhav, Lata Sonawane, Anil Bhabhar, Tanaji Sawant, Balaji Kinikar and Prakash Surve. Sixteen MLAs, including Eknath Shinde, have been served a disqualification notice by the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. The legislators have been asked to reply to the said notice by 5 pm on Monday, June 27. 

Concerning Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal's notice, Eknath Shinde and the rebel MLAs held a three-hour-long deliberation with a renowned legal expert on the possibilities of disqualification and the constitutional provisions, and sources further informed. 

The camp even moved a no-confidence motion against Zirwal, which was rejected. This decision was taken as the rebel Shiv Sena camp's letter giving notice for the removal of the Deputy Speaker was sent via a random email address. Moreover, none of the MLAs who were signatories to the letter submitted it to the office, and it did not have any original signatures, as per sources in the Vidhan Sabha. 

Maharashtra political crisis

In a massive political development on Tuesday, senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and multiple other party MLAs went incommunicado and went to the Le Meridian hotel in Surat. This came in the wake of several Sena MLAs cross-voting for BJP in the MLC polls. Subsequently, Shinde was replaced as the Legislative Party leader by MLA Ajay Choudhari- an indication that the Sena is unwilling to accept any demands of the rebels. The problem compounded for the MVA as the rebel MLAs moved further away to Guwahati in the wee hours of Wednesday.

In a Facebook Live session thereafter, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray offered to resign provided even one Shiv Sena MLA comes back to Mumbai and makes such a demand in face-to-face interaction. Despite this emotional appeal, Sena legislators continue to flock to the rebel camp. On Thursday night, 37 Sena MLAs signed a resolution retaining Shinde as the Legislative Party leader. While this implies that the 2/3rd of the Shiv Sena Legislative Party is now with the Thane leader, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party filed an application with Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal seeking disqualification of 12 rebel MLAs.