Another Aaditya core team member to join Shinde Sena

Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray's one-time close aide Rrahul Narain Kanal was expected to join the Sena (Shinde) on Saturday, the day his former boss had scheduled a march to protest against corruption in the Mumbai civic body. Kanal said he was deeply upset after the youth wing's Bandra team was suspended.

Shiv Sena (Shinde) hadn't officially confirmed the induction, but if he defects, Kanal will be the second senior youth wing leader to switch sides after Amey Ghole, the Yuva Sena treasurer and former corporator. Ghole left the party in April this year, citing serious differences with Shiv Sena secretary Suraj Chavan and the party's women's wing organiser Shraddha Jadhav. He said his repeated complaints were ignored by Aaditya.

Kanal, the former chairman of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) education committee and ex-member of the Saibaba Temple Trust, Shirdi, expressed himself on social media. He also heads the Love Mumbai Foundation. Earlier, he had shown unrest by quitting the youth wing's messaging group.

"Feeling Sad!!! Very well know who has done this, but removing people who have worked for you without a hearing is arrogance and you could remove me but not the people who have worked day and night yet. Chalo acha hai, sabko pata chale ke ego aur arrogance kya hota hai!!! (all will know what is ego and arrogance) (sic)," he tweeted.

His second tweet indicated he was leaving the party. "Jai Maharashtra!!! I'm sorry for all my genuine work force who worked day and night and you have to face this because of me and only when you stand for right and against all odds this is just the start and now you have started it, thank you."

The Yuva Sena General Secretary Varun Sardesai, who is also Aaditya's cousin, played down Kanal's move. "Rrahul is my good friend. But after the party lost power everyone is finding a reason [to quit]. Aaditya founded the Yuva Sena in 2010 and raised it from a zero to this level. He included Rrahul in the core committee after the foundation. Not many in the party get such an opportunity. And yet the new faces who were given opportunities to be a leader have been complaining of injustice," he said, adding that the youth wing will march on with new loyal faces.

He said young party loyalists like Suraj Chavan have been facing central agencies bravely and also working for the wing. "It's a fact that anti-BJP people face such action," said Sardesai, indirectly indicating that Kanal too had faced similar action last year when the income tax searches were conducted at his residence and offices. Simultaneously, the former standing committee chairman of BMC, Yashwant Jadhav, and a state transport department officer were also raided. Aaditya Thackeray had then defended his aide, calling the raids an ‘invasion by Delhi'. Jadhav and his MLA wife had left the Thackeray Sena last year to join the Shinde faction.

2010
Year Yuva Sena was founded