'Shinde faction not a party': Uddhav camp leader after CM Eknath claims Sena's poll symbol

After the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena met the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday to stake a claim for the party’s poll symbol-- 'bow and arrow', the Uddhav camp has lashed out at the Shinde group saying that the latter is just a group and not party.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction's spokesperson Manisha Kayande on Friday accused the Shinde faction of leaving the party at the direction of "someone". She attacked the camp led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde by calling it a group and said that it has no right over the Shiv Sena's 'bow & arrow' poll symbol. 

"CM Eknath Shinde wrote a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI) Party Chief for getting the "Bow and Arrow". The decision is pending in front of the Supreme Court and ECI. The faction left the party because someone told them to, but it doesn't mean that the party is over," Kayande said, ANI reported.

Adding further, the Uddhav camp leader said, "They (Shinde Faction) are just a group and not a party, so they don't have any rights over the symbol. We have been the party for the last 56 years and Uddhav Thackeray is our Party Chief, who is leading us for many years," ANI reported.

EC seeks Uddhav camp's reply after CM Shinde claims Sena's 'Bow & Arrow'

The EC on Friday asked Uddhav's camp to respond by Saturday, October 8 after the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena met the poll body and staked the claim over Shiv Sena's poll symbol. Notably, the move by the Shinde camp came in a bid to deny the actual bow and arrow election symbol of Shiv Sena to the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction ahead of the Andheri East Assembly bypoll in Maharashtra, scheduled for November 3.

Notably, earlier in June, Shinde along with his rebel Sena MLAs revolted against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government for entering into an "unnatural alliance" with the Congress and NCP. He succeeded Uddhav Thackeray after 40 of the 50 Shiv Sena MLAs withdrew their support for the latter.

Real Shiv Sena tussle

Since Eknath Shinde took over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and formed an alliance with the BJP, the tussle between Shinde and the Uddhav camp has grown immensely as both the fractions are claiming themselves to be the real Shiv Sena.

Earlier in September as well, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who walked out of the Shiv Sena in June after a rebellion, after winning the Panchayat polls, said that the victory is a mandate by the people that they have "accepted" the alliance between the two parties.

"It also clears that we're not the Shinde faction only but we are the real Shiv Sena and people have accepted our alliance where we have won more than 300 panchayats. We will contest together in upcoming polls too," he said.