Amid Sena-BJP tensions, Uddhav says Shinde’s Delhi visit shows his helplessness

Though Shinde himself was present at the meeting chaired by CM Devendra Fadnavis, all other ministers remaind absent to the meeting that had uncovered the shimmering tensions and frictions between the Sena and BJP alliance.

Following this, on Wednesday, Shinde skipped a function chaired by CM Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Mumbai and reached Delhi to meet Shah where he learnt to have complained about BJP state president Ravindra Chavan’s move to “poach” Shinde Sena’s leaders into the BJP.

Shinde had also clarified that Fadnavis and he has decided that no leaders or workers from the Mahayuti alliance will be poached by either party ahead of the upcoming local body elections.

To further ease out the tension, Shinde instructed on Thursday to not carry out the inductions of leaders which have been scheduled earlier and not take any step that may intensify the frictions between the parties.

Meanwhile, following Shinde and Shah’s meeting in Delhi on Wednesday night, Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray took a jibe the Deputy Chief Minister saying the visit to Delhi reflected his “political helplessness.”

Speaking at a gathering of Shikshak Sena members at the MIG Club in Mumbai, Thackeray said, “Someone went to Delhi saying he was beaten up. Why this helplessness?”

Though he did not name Shinde, the remark was seen as a direct jibe at the Dy CM Shinde who on Wednesday met Shah amid reports of unrest within the alliance.

Thackeray also questioned the BJP’s pre-poll schemes, remarking that benefits announced by other parties are mocked as “revdi”, but those given by the ruling party are projected as “favours”.

While speaking at the event, Thackeray also  urged teachers-turned-MLCs to spend their constituency funds only on improving schools.

Recalling his family’s struggle with education expenses, he said, “My grandfather and Balasaheb (Sena founder Bal Thackeray)had to leave school in Class 7 because they couldn’t afford the fees, but their learning did not stop. Values are taught through behaviour.”

Meanwhile, the Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana also carried an editorial accusing the Shinde Sena of staging another “drama of displeasure” by skipping Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.

The editorial said the Shinde camp’s influence in the government had “reduced to peanuts” and alleged that the BJP was weakening its own allies through political engineering.

It claimed that the BJP’s assurances of unity within the Mahayuti were contradicted by its actions at the local level.

The editorial also stated that Shinde’s party was facing the consequences of having broken the original Shiv Sena, adding, “Those who once chose power over loyalty now complain of being broken.”

The editorial argued that the BJP was unlikely to take the Shinde Sena’s protests seriously and that the faction was “caught in the same net it willingly walked into.”