Ex Minister Sacked By Uddhav Thackeray Says "Will Follow Eknath Shinde"

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has sacked former minister Vijay Shivtare for "anti-party activities".

The sacking of Vijay Shivtare, who had represented the Purandar constituency in the Pune district, was announced in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

Talking to reporters in Pune after his expulsion, Vijay Shivtare said the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is the "real" Shiv Sena and he will follow Eknath Shinde.

He blamed Sanjay Raut for the present situation in Shiv Sena and said the Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) is suffering from "schizophrenia" and "hallucinating". "I have expressed multiple times that I am following the footsteps of Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray. We are carrying the legacy of thoughts of Balasaheb. This is the real Shiv Sena. Though the party has axed me today, wherever Eknath Shinde will go, I will follow him," Vijay Shivtare added.

Referring to the last month's rebellion by Eknath Shinde and 39 Shiv Sena Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), Vijay Shivtare claimed no one in Shiv Sena was happy over the decision to join hands with Congress in 2019 (after polls when Maha Vikas Aghadi was formed).

"The party upholding Balasaheb Thackeray's Hindutva was the real Shiv Sena," said Vijay Shivtare, who had served as a minister in the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-led government (2014-19).

Balasaheb Thackeray had said that he would wrap up Sena rather than go with Congress, he said.

Vijay Shivtare said he holds Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in high esteem but the "undercurrent of resentment" in the Sena over the allying with Congress cannot be ignored.

Vijay Shivtare alleged that Sanjay Raut "pushed" the party towards the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

"A simple arithmetic is that when two regional parties come together, one of them will suffer. Sanjay Raut doesn't seem to know even this basic math of votes. It is not known whether his (Raut's) loyalty is for Sharad Pawar or Uddhav Thackeray," he said.

Vijay Shivtare said Sanjay Raut was suffering from "schizophrenia" and lives in dreams and also hallucinates. He does not have the decision-making ability due to which the Sena lost the Uttar Pradesh elections.

"Sanjay Raut strongly convinces people with his thoughts. He had also dreamt of Uddhav Thackeray leading the nation from Delhi. He always misguided the party leadership. He is responsible for the current Sena fiasco. He made the Sena surrender its pride before Sharad Pawar," Vijay Shivtare alleged.

He cited the example of the Kolhapur north Assembly bypoll held earlier this year to claim that Shiv Sena's voter base was affected as the Congress candidate won by defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of over 18,000 votes.

The Congress candidate was fielded by the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) of which the Sena is the main constituent.

In that bypoll, the Congress candidate bagged 96,000 votes, 5,000 more than the votes polled in the 2019 Assembly elections. In 2019, Congress had polled 91,000 votes while Shiv Sena had about 45,000. "The development projects in our constituency were either shifted or halted by the MVA. Despite informing the then Uddhav Thackeray, no action was taken, which was most unfortunate," Vijay Shivtare claimed.

He also said he would welcome the reunion in the event of the factions led by Eknath Shinde and Thackeray coming together.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)