Mumbai: Amid conflict over who is the ‘real’ claimant of the Shiv Sena and its symbol, the party faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has started work on strengthening its weakest link — Mumbai.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena group has laid down an organisational structure in the city and is in the process of building ground cadre strength to take on the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction in the Mumbai civic elections expected to be held later this year.
“Rivalling them [Thackeray-led Sena] is difficult in Mumbai, but we will do it gradually. More and more people are coming to us as they notice our work. Once we get hold of the party’s symbol, we will automatically grow stronger,” an MLA from the Shinde camp told ThePrint.
The battle over who is the official Shiv Sena and who gets to keep the party symbol of bow and arrow is currently in the Supreme Court.
Mumbai is the weak link for the Shinde camp as it has always been a bastion of the Thackeray family. The metropolis and its political and social structures in the 1960s had paved the way for Bal Thackeray to launch the Shiv Sena in 1966.
The city of opportunities — where people from across the country came to build a future and competed with Maharashtrians for opportunities in the process — proved to be a fertile ground for the Sena to set up its base on and grow.
Even after Shinde split with 40 MLAs, causing the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to collapse, and formed a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party’s ground cadre remain committed to the Thackeray family.
Of the 40 MLAs who walked away from Thackeray’s leadership, five are from Mumbai. Of the Sena’s three MPs in Mumbai, one — Rahul Shewale — is in the Shinde camp.
Last week, the Shinde camp appointed its first divisional head in the city for the Borivali-Magathane region. On Monday, the CM held a marathon meeting of leaders from his camp and made initial appointments of five more divisional heads in Mumbai and three divisional administrators.
Each divisional head has been assigned two-three areas. Appointments, so far, have been made for areas such as Dadar, Mahim, Chembur, Sion, Anushakti Nagar, Borivali, Bhandup, Vikhroli, Mulund, Kurla, Mumbadevi, Malabar Hill and Colaba.
These divisional heads have been tasked with opening the party’s shakhas (branches), the lowest administrative unit, ideally one in every councillor ward.
One of the reasons behind Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s iron-like grip over Mumbai is these ward-level shakhas. The shakhas mobilise ground cadre and work as a parallel administrative machinery, tending to local civic issues such as clogged drains and unsanitary toilets.
Naresh Mhaske, former Thane mayor and a Shinde group leader, told ThePrint, “We are concentrating on opening our own public relations offices and shakhas across the city. We have taken the first step by naming vibhag pramukhs (divisional heads). Now they will work towards establishing shakhas and making appointments under them. There is no timeline, but the idea is to get it done as soon as possible.”
Rahul Shewale, the only Mumbai Shiv Sena MP to join the Shinde-led rebellion, opened the first shakha of the faction in the city in Mankhurd earlier this month.
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Affidavits, shakhas, appointments
Prakash Surve, one of Shinde camp’s vibhag pramukhs in Mumbai, told ThePrint that he has already opened shakhas in 10 of the 17 councillor wards under his jurisdiction.
“I have made provisional appointments of shakha pramukhs, upa shakha pramukhs as well. Once the Ganesh festival is over, I will get them finalised with Shinde saheb’s approval,” Surve said.
According to him, the CM has said that other than opening shakhas and appointing administrative personnel, the priority is to get as many affidavits as possible from Shiv Sena workers pledging support to Shinde as their leader.
“I have so far got about 22,000 affidavits. Currently, we are in liaison with the Ganpati mandals, helping them in whatever way we can. We are also getting a lot of support,” said Surve, adding that he plans to hold a rally of the newly-appointed functionaries in his region post Navratri in October.
Mangesh Kudalkar, a vibhag pramukh and sitting Shiv Sena MLA who switched to the Shinde camp, told ThePrint that he held a gathering of party workers in his area earlier this month and “the hall was packed”.
“About 1,500 were inside the hall and an equal number outside. I also organised Dahi Handi on a much grander scale, and am currently working with Ganesh mandals. Many have already shifted allegiance and the rest will come when they see our work,” he said.
Sada Sarvankar, a third Mumbai Shiv Sena MLA who joined Shinde, had earlier this month said the faction will build a central office in Dadar. The Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s headquarters, Shiv Sena Bhavan, is also in Dadar.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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