Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The exodus from the Shiv Sena to the Shinde faction seems to be continuing unabated. Last week, former mayor Nandkumar Ghodele and his wife Anita Ghodele joined the Shinde faction. Since then, Shiv Sena leaders Chandrakant Khaire and the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, MLC Ambadas Danve, have been holding meetings and discussions to stop the party's defection. On Saturday, a meeting of party officials was organised. Meanwhile, the defection of the party's Marathwada secretary Ashok Patwardhan to the Shinde faction has caused a stir. Patwardhan is known to be a close associate of Khaire.
It may be noted that in the legislative assembly elections, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction was unable to secure a victory in any constituency in the district. Since then, there has been restlessness among the party's office bearers and workers. Hence joining of the former mayor and his wife to the Shinde faction created a sensation in the camp. Besides, there were reports that about eleven to twelve former corporators and office bearers were preparing to leave the party, which caught the attention of the party leaders. Accordingly, Khaire and Danve started holding meetings and discussions with office bearers and former corporators. On Saturday, a party meeting was also organised. Against this backdrop, on Friday, Marathwada secretary Ashok Patwardhan joined the Shinde faction in the presence of Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat, district chief Rajendra Janjal, and the Ghodele couple.