In a setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena group, 66 out of the 67 former party corporators of the Thane Municipal Corporation have extended support to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The term of the 131-member Thane Municipal Corporation, which has been a stronghold of the Shiv Sena, ended sometime back and its elections are due.
The 66 former Sena corporators, led by ex-mayor Naresh Mhaske, met Chief Minister Shinde at his 'Nandanvan' bungalow in Mumbai on Wednesday night and extended support to him, a release from Mr Shinde's office said.
Last month, Mr Shinde had launched a rebellion against the Sena and majority of the party MLAs sided with him, which led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Mr Shinde was sworn in as the Chief Minister on June 30 and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis had taken oath as the deputy Chief Minister.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
After 350 Years, Chhatrapati Shivaji's "Bagh Nakh" Back In India "Will He Sell Golgappas": Kangana Ranaut On Shankaracharya's Remark On Eknath Shinde PM Modi Not Our Enemy, If He Makes A Mistake...: Shankaracharya "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests Wife Among Two Jailed For Life For Man's Murder In Gurugram: Cops 1,100 Flights Cancelled In US As Microsoft Outage Disrupts Operations Elon Musk Congratulates PM Modi On Becoming Most Followed Leader On X Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.