Congress Maharashtra state president Harshwardhan Sapkal even claimed on Wednesday night that Eknath Shinde is afraid that the BJP plans to split his Sena and get his MLAs to join the BJP, even as Shinde was in Delhi, meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah the same evening.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief party spokesperson Sanjay Raut said here on Friday that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made an offer to Union Home Minister Amit Shah that he would merge his Shiv Sena with the BJP, if Shinde was made Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey counterattacked Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday by tweeting against Uddhav using his X handle, after Dubey was criticised by Uddhav Thackeray on Monday for his statements against Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, for allegedly encouraging attacks against Hindi-speaking migrants.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Thursday for an hour, sources said.
In an apparent attack at the Uddhav Thackeray faction, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who arrived in Ayodhya on Sunday, said that "some people" are allergic to Hindutva, saying only PM Modi has fulfilled Balasaheb Thackeray's dream of Ram Mandir.
This follows the EC's decision to put an interim ban on the use of the Shiv Sena's name and its symbol, bow and arrow, in the upcoming Andheri assembly by-election, which is why new names and symbols are being allotted to both the factions.
A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, said there will be no stay on proceedings before the EC to decide intra-party dispute in Shiv Sena between Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde faction, on which one is the original party and also on getting the party symbol.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli asked the Election Commission not to take any precipitative action on the claim raised by Shinde group for recognising them as the real Shiv Sena party in the meanwhile.
The faction had further sought removal of Eknath Shinde, Gulabrao Patil, Tanji Sawant, and Uday Samant from party posts.
The MPs, who have been in touch with the rival camp, have claimed that they would be safe with the Shinde-led party faction supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party
