In a big set back to Shiv Sena, an exodus of its party workers has begun as nearly 400 Shiv Sainiks joined Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) at an event organised in Dharavi on Wednesday.
According to the reports, Shiv Sena workers were upset over party Chief Uddhav Thackeray joining hands with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to form government in Maharashtra.
Mumbai: Around 400 Shiv Sena workers joined BJP at an event organised in Dharavi, yesterday. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/zGBAVH0zDr
— ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2019
Ramesh Nadesan, Special Executive officer of the Shiv Sena said that four hundred supporters of the party had joined BJP as they felt cheated when the Shiv Sena shook hands with corrupt and anti-Hindu parties.
“I was working with Shiv Sena for 10 years. We were supporting the Hindutva ideology of Sena. I was given an office to serve people but as Sena has decided to form the government with NCP and Congress, it is not acceptable to us. Now, we all have decided to join BJP,” said Ramesh Nadar, Sena leader.
He added that not just the 400 party workers, but there were several others who were also unhappy with Sena.
“No one understands the feelings and sentiments of a supporter who actually works for the party without anything in return. Also, in last the seven years, we were fighting against the NCP and Congress supporters. During elections, it is the karyakartas who actually go door-to-door for seeking votes. How do we go back and face the same people whom we have asked to vote for an honest government?” he said.
Another Sena worker, who joined the BJP, also echoed similar sentiments stating that workers are not happy with the decision of the Sena chief to join hands with Congress and NCP. “We are quitting the party because Sena had quit its main agenda, which is Hindutva,” he added.
The exodus of Shiv Sena party workers a week after senior Shiv Sena leader Ramesh Solanki announced his resignation from the party protesting against the party’s alliance with Congress to form a government in Maharashtra. Ramesh Solanki had resigned from the party after serving for 21 years a day after Shiv Sena MLAs were made to take oath swearing loyalty for Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar along with Uddhav Thackeray.
The BJP and Shiv Sena had fought the Maharashtra assembly polls together and won an absolute majority. However, Shiv Sena negotiated a deal with the NCP and the Congress to form a non-BJP government. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, the leader of Maha Vikas Aghadi of Sena-NCP-Congress, took oath as the 18th Chief Minister of Maharashtra and is also the first person from his family to hold the post.
