Will reclaim party’s lost ground in Konkan: Uddhav Thackeray
A leader from the Kunbi (OBC) community in Ratnagiri district, Petkar had been in the Congress for the past few years and had secured 52,000 votes
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At a time when several leaders of the Sena UBT from Konkan region are quitting the party, Betkar’s entry has come as a shot in the arm. (Express Photo) Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that his party will reclaim the lost ground in Maharashtra’s coastal Konkan region, where it suffered a major setback in last year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
“The poll results in Konkan were unexpected. I am going to conquer Konkan again. Now I will strengthen the party in Konkan again. I will tour the entire Konkan from top to bottom and will recapture the entire region. They (ruling alliance) made people fool once but they won’t be able to fool the people of Konkan all the time,” said Uddhav at a press conference in Mumbai.
Targeting Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Uddhav said, “Many leaders have left Shiv Sena to become big, but those who make them leaders are still with me. There is only one Shiv Sena that keeps its word. The other one is a traitor.” At this juncture, he added, Sena UBT is the only political party in the state that keeps its word and fulfils promises. Earlier in the day, Congress leader Sahdev Petkar rejoined the Sena UBT.
A leader from the Kunbi (OBC) community in Ratnagiri district, Petkar had been in the Congress for the past few years and had secured 52,000 votes while unsuccessfully contesting from the Congress in the 2019 Assembly elections from the Guhagar seat.
At a time when several leaders of the Sena UBT from Konkan region are quitting the party, Betkar’s entry has come as a shot in the arm for the party.
Sena (UBT) had managed to win nine Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra last year, but failed to emerge victorious in its old bastion of coastal Raigad and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituencies, which were bagged by the NCP and the BJP, respectively.
In the November 2024 Assembly polls, the Shiv Sena (UBT) won just one seat in the region — Guhagar. The party was virtually wiped out from south Konkan, where it ceded space to Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
The poll results were followed by a series of desertions of leaders from the opposition party from the region, including former MLA Rajan Salvi, who joined the ruling Shiv Sena.
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