Picture : Twitter/ ANI
Dissident Shiv Sena legislator Deepak Kesarkar said the rebel group enjoys a two-thirds majority in the legislature party and will prove its strength in the House but will not merge with any other political party.
As per report by PTI, In a virtual press conference from Guwahati, where rebel MLAs led by senior Sena minister Eknath Shinde are camping, Kesarkar said they have not left the Sena, but named their group as “Shiv Sena-Balasaheb” and has appointed Shinde as their leader.
Just 16 or 17 people cannot replace the group leader of 55 MLAs and the rebel Sena faction will challenge in the court the order of Maharashtra Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal to replace Shinde as Shiv Sena group leader, he said.
“The MLAs had told party president Uddhav Thackeray that we should stay with the party with whom we had contested election…When so many people voice the same opinion, there must be some substance in it,” he said, referring to the Shinde group’s initial demand that the Sena should revive its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and sever ties with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Asked about the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction’s objection to the use of party founder Bal Thackeray’s name by other groups, Kesarkar said, “We will consider it.”
To a question about when the rebel MLAs would return to Mumbai, he said they will come back “at an appropriate time.”
“At present, there is pressure, we don’t feel that it is safe to return,” Kesarkar said, referring to incidents of attacks on offices and residences of rebel MLAs in Maharashtra.
The rebel faction had nothing against Uddhav Thackeray, he added. He said the rebel MLAs decided to come together as the Shiv Sena was facing a survival crisis. “We want to save the party. We are not even seeking his (Uddhav Thackeray’s) resignation,” he added.
