Maharashtra polls: Shiv Sena (UBT) expels five functionaries for 'anti-party activities'

Uddhav Thackeray. File Pic

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has expelled five functionaries for 'anti-party activities' ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election 2024, sources said on Tuesday, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, Rupesh Mhatre, one of those who faced the axe, is a former MLA, and had filed nomination papers as an independent from Bhiwandi East assembly seat. He claimed that he withdrew from the race, yet faced action.

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According to the seat-sharing arrangement of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly polls, Samajwadi Party's sitting MLA Rais Shaikh is the official candidate of the Opposition alliance from the constituency.

Vishwas Nandekar, a party functionary from Yavatmal district, Chandrakant Ghughal, Sanjay Awari and Prasad Thackeray were also expelled on Monday for anti-party activities.

"The party asked me to withdraw and I abided by the instruction. Yet, I was sacked. This is the price for staying loyal and being with the party in its bad days," Mhatre told PTI, as per the PTI.

Those helping BJP are Maharashtra's 'enemies', polls all about love vs betrayal of state: Uddhav

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday hit the campaign trail and pitched the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly election 2024 as a battle between those who love Maharashtra and the ones who betray it as he reflected on the 2022 split in the party.

Uddhav Thackeray hit out at his former ally BJP and its partners, saying those helping the national party are "enemies" of Maharashtra as he made a slew of promises to voters, including building a temple of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in every district if the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comes to power, reported the PTI.

Addressing his first rally of the 2024 assembly polls in Radhanagri in Kolhapur district -- the constituency of Prakash Abitkar, one of the 40 Shiv Sena MLAs who rebelled against his leadership -- he said those who love the state are aligned with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi which comprises the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP).

Those helping the BJP, a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti bloc, are "enemies" of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray remarked.

Further attacking his one-time ally, the former CM accused the BJP of "selling" Maharashtra to Gujarat, where it is in power.

Uddhav Thackeray claimed his government was toppled in June 2022 because he did not allow the BJP to harm Maharashtra and said not a single industrial project moved out of the state when the MVA was in office under his leadership.

"(Maharashtra assembly poll) is a fight between those who love the state and the ones who betray it," Thackeray told the gathering.

(with PTI inputs)