People from rival Shiv Sena groups led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde clashed in the Navi Peth area of Pune on Saturday.
The Election Commission declared on Friday that the section led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde was the real Shiv Sena, not the group led by former Chief Minister Thackeray.
On Saturday, workers from both sides gathered at a show hosted by a Marathi news channel. Heated chants were yelled at, and tensions rose until police arrived and brought the scene under control.
News agency PTI posted a video of the clash on Twitter:
VIDEO | Scuffle between supporters of rival factions led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray in Pune. pic.twitter.com/GKcXVpN1GD
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 18, 2023
The Election Commission declared on Friday that the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and symbol would be given to the Sena group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. With this, the Thackerays were completely ousted from the party commanded by the late patriarch Bal Thackeray.
On June 30, last year, Maharashtra’s then-Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde walked out of Shiv Sena with 40 of its 55 MLAs, causing the 57-year-old party to split vertically. Shinde, with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), toppled the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government led by then-Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Within days of destabilising MVA’s stable government, Shinde forged a coalition government with the BJP and took over as Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Shinde and former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis orchestrated the Shiv Sena split with military precision. They met at night, away from prying eyes, and worked to smash Shiv Sena, one of the country’s largest regional parties.
Shinde decided to take over Shiv Sena from the Thackerays after gaining control of the Shiv Sena legislature party. Legal experts and the BJP leadership had told Shinde that taking over Shiv Sena was a preferable choice to seeking recognition as a breakaway unit from the Election Commission of India.
The Shiv Sena factions, led by Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde, approached the Election Commission, claiming ownership of the name and the registered ‘bow and arrow’ symbol. While Thackeray was preserving the political legacy of his late father Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, Shinde’s argument was for a Shiv Sena sans the Thackerays.
Each group had filed cases in the Supreme Court against the other about the disqualification of MLAs.
The Thackerays were kicked out of the party on Friday evening after the EC decided to hand over the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the registered ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the group Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena led by Shinde.