4 min readMumbaiJun 24, 2022 11:00 AM IST
First published on: Jun 23, 2022 at 03:13 PM IST
The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, in their resolution endorsing their acceptance of rebel minister Eknath Shinde’s leadership, also mentioned “tremendous harassment and distress” faced by the Sena cadre on “political as well as personal grounds” from the “opposition ideological parties” among the reasons why they wanted to chart a new political trajectory for the party in Maharashtra.
Some of these Sena MLAs have, however, alleged earlier that the party cadre and leaders have been facing “harassment” in the form of investigations launched by various agencies of the BJP-ruled Centre against them.
A minute-long video released by the Shinde group on Wednesday showed a group of rebel legislators exchanging banter with each other. The person appearing to be most vocal and active in the video, who is seen calling for strict action against those who are against the rebel group, is three-time Sena MLA from Ovala-majiwada, Pratap Sarnaik, who is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged Rs 175-crore money laundering case.
Significantly, Sarnaik was the first amongst the Sena leaders to publicly ask the Maharashtra Chief Minister and party supremo, Uddhav Thackeray, to bury the hatchet with the BJP, the state’s principal Opposition party.
On June 9, 2021, Sarnaik had written a letter to Uddhav, openly urging him to patch up with the BJP to “save” Sena leaders from being “harassed by Central agencies”, even as he accused the NCP and the Congress – the Sena’s partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government – of allegedly working against the party’s interests in the state.
He had then charged that the Central agencies were “unnecessarily harassing” Sena leaders. “In my personal opinion, it is imperative that we patch up with Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A lot of our supporters feel that by doing so the harassment that Pratap Sarnaik, Anil Parab and Ravindra Waikar and their families are facing will stop,” Sarnaik had stated in the letter.
While Parab and Waikar are still reportedly with Uddhav, Sarnaik is said to have “buckled” under pressure. He is a big player in Thane’s real estate scene through his Vihang group of companies, which also run hospitality businesses in and around Thane and Mumbai.
In March this year, the ED had attached properties worth Rs 11.35 crore of Sarnaik in a case of alleged fraud worth Rs 5,600 crore at the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). The attached properties include two flat and a land parcel in Thane.
Another prominent Sena MLA, who has joined the Shinde-led rebel group, is Byculla MLA Yamini Jadhav, wife of former chairman of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s Standing Committee Yashwant Jadhav who is being probed by the ED in a case of alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations. Prior to the ED action, the Income Tax officials too had attached a flat belonging to the Jadhavs in Bandra and nearly 40 properties linked to Yashwant over the charges of tax evasion earlier this year.
Another Sena leader facing ED action is Sena MP Bhawana Gawali, who too has come out in support of the rebel faction. She sent a letter to Thackeray on Monday, stating that he should address the concerns raised by the Shinde group.
Gawali is currently facing a money-laundering investigation into an NGO that she runs along with her mother. One of her close associates, Saeed Khan, was arrested by the ED, which has also attached a Rs 3.75 crore office building of Khan.
Rebel Sena leaders Pratap Sarnaik, Yamini Jadhav and Bhawana Gawali. (File) 
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