‘Poaching’ truce: Shinde halts induction of leaders from alliance parties

On Wednesday, Shinde skipped a function chaired by Chief Minister 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” Sena leaders into the BJP.

Shinde also clarified that Fadnavis and himself had decided that no leaders or workers from the alliance will be poached by Mahayuti parties 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 from alliance parties.

After Shinde and Shah’s meeting in Delhi on Wednesday night, Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray took a jibe at 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”. He 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, 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”.