Days after losing his party name Shiv Sena and the bow-and-arrow poll symbol to the rival faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray will hold his first public rally in Ratnagiri district’s Khed on Sunday evening.The Khed rally will be a significant show of strength for the Uddhav-led Sena faction amid the ongoing crisis in the Sena. During the rally, Uddhav is expected to take on the Shinde-led Sena and friend-turned-foe BJP. Coincidentally, the BJP-Shinde Sena alliance will also be undertaking an Ashirwad Yatra in all six Lok Sabha constituencies of Mumbai starting Sunday.
For the unversed, Uddhav had announced a state-wide tour starting from Khed in the Konkan region to protest against the “injustice”. He had also appealed to party cadres to ensure that the ground is filled with a sea of people and that the faction’s strength is visible. “We will take our battle against injustice to the public,” Uddhav Thackeray had said.The Konkan region, where Uddhav is holding his first public rally, is considered to be the traditional stronghold of the Shiv Sena. However, the defection of a few senior party leaders from the region, such as Ramdas Kadam, Deepak Kesarkar, Bharat Gogawale and Uday Samant who joined the Shinde faction, has weakened the party’s base in the region.