Uddhav Thackeray holds meeting of MPs, MLAs, local leaders with eye on Maharashtra polls

Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday called a meeting of Shiv Sena MPs, MLAs and leaders loyal to him to decide the next course of action after the Election Commission granted the party name and symbol to rival faction headed by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.

The meeting is mainly to keep the flock together amid anxiety among corporators and local party leaders loyal to Thackeray over their electoral prospects as they would have to contest the upcoming local body polls, including Brihanmumbai Corporation elections, without Sena name and symbol, party insiders said.

Thackeray also addressed a crowd of Sena workers loyal to him near his Kalanagar residence on Saturday.


EC had on Friday allotted the 'Shiv Sena' name and its bow and arrow symbol to the Shinde faction.

Thackeray alleged it was done with an eye on the elections.

"Today is Maha Shivratri and on this day they have stolen our bow and arrow," he told party workers. "They don't know that they have put a hand in the honeybee's nest and now they will see the impact of what they have done," he said, and asked the Sainiks to get ready for polls.

He alleged that the government influenced the EC decision. "If BJP feels that it can use its slaves to finish off the Shiv Sena, then please remember the Shiv Sena can never be finished. They (BJP) have kept slaves like the EC near them, who do their bidding and after retirement they become governors... Today a former judge has become a governor," Thackeray said.

He claimed the EC decision did not have any precedent and that the commission had dealt differently with party splits in the past and did not favour any particular faction.

The former chief minister said he may do a Facebook live on Sunday to speak to the people of how the party had completed all the formalities requested by the EC related to the dispute over the party name and symbol and yet the decision went against him.

Despite the Shinde camp getting the Shiv Sena name and bow-and-arrow symbol, Thackeray claimed, people of the state will back him. "Ask anyone who the Shiv Sena belongs to and they will reveal the truth... They (Shinde group) want Balasaheb's name and will use his photo, but they don't want Balasaheb's family," he said.

"I will not rest till I bury these traitors (electorally)," Thackeray said, and challenged the Shinde camp to fight against his candidates.