Former Shiv Sena corporator Ameya Ghole, considered a close aide of Aaditya Thackeray, remained absent from the core committee meeting of the party's Yuva Sena on Tuesday, triggering speculations that he was about to quit the youth wing and switch to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's side. According to party functionaries, Ghole, who is also the treasurer of the Sena youth wing, was invited for the meeting convened by Aaditya but he did not attend it because he had been unhappy with the youth wing's “functioning” for the last couple of weeks. Ghole had also quit Whatsapp groups of the party organisation a few weeks back, indicating that something was not right, but it was still expected that he will attend the meeting, a functionary said. Aaditya had convened the core committee meeting to discuss the issues Yuva Sena had been facing after the rebellion in the parent party – the Shiv Sena – by Shinde and other MLAs and MPs. Another agenda of the meeting was to decide on the future course of action to prevent the exit of Yuva Sena office bearers and strengthen the youth wing further. The strategy for upcoming senate election was also discussed during the meeting. Ghole was a corporator from Wadala constituency from Mumbai and was said to be unhappy with the “coterie” around Aaditya. He had also conveyed his concerns to Aaditya and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, a party functionary said. “If Ghole leaves Yuva Sena, it would be considered as a setback for the youth wing since he has been a close aide of Aaditya and backroom strategist of Sena along with others from Mumbai,” a Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) functionary said. Ghole had not been involved in the party's affairs for the past couple of months and had even stopped using the party symbols and names on Twitter, the functionary added. Party functionaries expressed hope that the leadership would get in touch with Ghole and attempt to convince him to stay back. Despite being a first-time corporator, Ghole was appointed as the chairperson of the Civic Health Committee in 2019.
