Son of trusted Uddhav aide switches side

Bhushan Desai, son of former industries minister Subhash Desai, joined Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction on Monday.

Subhash has been a trusted lieutenant of Uddhav Thackeray’s family for several years.

Reacting to the development, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said Bhushan was not with Uddhav’s faction. “Subhash Desai is our big leader. we follow his guidance, his son was not with us. Whoever wants to go to the washing machine should go,” he added.

Last month, the Election Commission gave the Shiv Sena name and the bow-and-arrow party symbol to the faction led by Shinde, who revolted against Uddhav Thackeray and replaced him as the chief minister, joining hands with the BJP last year.

The Uddhav camp later approached the Supreme Court which refused to stay the Election Commission’s order recognising the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and allocating it the “bow and arrow” poll symbol.

On Sunday, Aaditya Thackeray alleged the Election Commission is “completely compromised” and said its decision to recognise the Shinde faction as the Shiv Sena and allot it the bow and arrow symbol was dangerous for democracy.

He said the acronym “CM” of Maharashtra currently stands for a “corrupt man”, and that the “illegal and unconstitutional chief minister will surely go”.

Addressing a meeting of the party workers in North Mumbai, Thackeray said the flaming torch (Mashaal) symbol allotted to Shiv Sena (UBT) is the only light that will brighten the darkness caused by the betrayal and back-stabbing.

He said the rebel MLAs led by Shinde had done the “dirty work” of toppling a government which had done good work of tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating hardships of farmers affected by the cyclone and unseasonably rains when in power.

With inputs from News18