After remaining silent and refusing to divulge his next moves, Raj Thackeray finally struck a lethal blow to the Shiv Sena, when 3,500 Sena workers in the suburb of Kurla, once a party stronghold, led by two-term municipal councillor Dilip Lande, submitted their resignations from the party to Uddhav Thackeray, the working president of Shiv Sena, Sunday night. âWe feel relieved from the suffocation of the disgusting leadership of the Sena, and would hereafter follow the orders of Raj Thackerayâ said Lande who added that the exodus from the Sena has begun and that shortly more than 5,000 party workers would desert the Sena.âPlease wait for a week, and you will see how millions of party workers defect to the new party to be floated by Raj. Itâs a good beginning for Maharashtra in the new year, as we have decided to support Raj,â said Lande, who was the first municipal councillor to revolt and side with Raj.
âThe process of the Sena workersâ exodus has begun and nobody can stop it now,â Bunty Mashelkar, former chief of Sena in southcentral Bombay told reporters yesterday morning. He added that thousands of Sena workers from southcentral Bombay would quit and join Raj. Despite Raj clarifying that he did not want the Sena members of Parliament, state legislators and municipal councillors to quit the Sena and join him, it is a fact that several MPs, MLAs and councillors as also ward chiefs have submitted their resignations to Uddhav and have decided to join the Raj camp.
Political analysts taken by surprise by the new development said that the mass exodus of Shiv Sena workers was a step taken by them to join in view of the announcement by Raj that he would be forming a new political party to counter the Shiv Sena. This would of course be a cause of worry for the Sena chief Bal Thackeray and his son Uddhav. It is a well known fact now that the Sena chief, seriously sick, like a wounded tiger, cannot come out of the den and fight. It is for certain that though leaders from the NCP, the Congress and the BJP had visited Raj and held meetings with him trying to woo him into their party fold, Raj has not fallen to their bait and has decided to float his own political party. It is said that the new party by Raj would have a manifesto that would give it a secular dimension and would attract the minority community, particularly the Muslims.