Uddhav Thackeray loses control over Thane civic body as 66 corporators join Shinde camp

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai, July 07, 2022: In yet another setback for embattled Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray, 66 party corporators in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) have joined the Eknath Shinde camp, sources said.

 

According to the sources, all 66 rebel corporators met new Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his residence late on Wednesday night.

With the defection of 66 of the 67 Shiv Sena corporators, Uddhav Thackeray has effectively lost control over the TMC.

The Thane Municipal Corporation is the most important civic body after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra collapsed on June 29 after Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray resigned as the chief minister following a rebellion in his party launched by senior leader Eknath Shinde.

A day after Thackeray resigned, Shinde, backed by 40 rebel Sena MLAs and Independents, took oath as the chief minister of the state, while senior BJP leader and former CM Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as his deputy.

However, the political crisis in Maharashtra seems far from over. Both Uddhav loyalists and the Shinde faction claim their respective group represents the original Shiv Sena, and are sparring over the party’s ’bow and arrow’ symbol.

Rebel Shiv Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil has claimed that 12 out of 18 Shiv Sena MPs would soon join the Shinde-led faction.

Courtesy: India Today