“We have the numbers, but we respect Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and our faction won’t merge with any other party,” Mr. Kesarkar said.
Guwahati: Who will continue the legacy of Bal Thackeray? The party’s founder and the father of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, has become the deciding factor in the fight for control of the Shiv Sena.
Sena MLA Eknath Shinde has named MLA Deepak Kesarkar as the spokesperson of his new faction, which they have dubbed “Shiv Sena Balasaheb” to mean the “ideal Shiv Sena as envisaged by Bal Thackeray.”
The only entity that may grant the faction recognition is the Election Commission.
“We have the numbers, but we respect Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and our faction won’t merge with any other party,” Mr. Kesarkar told reporters in Guwahati today.
While close advisors to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and others are assisting with logistics, they are not participating in any internal conversations of the dissident Sena MLAs, sources said.
“If recognition isn’t given to our faction, we will go to court and prove our numbers,” said Mr. Kesarkar, adding that the rebels will not quit the Sena, but will continue with the legacy of “Balasaheb”.
Reporters questioned whether the faction or the Shiv Sena had a direct connection to the Chief Minister’s father’s legacy, to which Mr. Kesarkar responded, “The faction would not be a true representation of the party.” “This is a constitutional struggle. We are not leaving Balasaheb’s ideology. We didn’t do anything wrong or illegal”.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
