Palghar (Maharashtra), Oct 29 In a dramatic turn of events, Palghar Shiv Sena MLA Shriniwas Chintaman Vanga – who was denied a ticket this time – cried profusely and apologised to Shiv Sena (UBT) President and ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, calling him a ‘godly’ person, here on Tuesday.
Vanga’s unexpected tearful outburst evoked a sharp reaction from Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and Chief Spokesperson Sanjay Raut who slammed ruling MahaYuti Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on the issue.
“Today, Vanga is weeping… tomorrow even Shinde will cry… It's all ‘karma’ catching up with them,” observed Raut sharply, without dropping any hints of his party’s likely stance on Vanga.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that Vanga was one of the 40 traitors who has now realised his mistake “after he was royally used and thrown by Shinde”.
The development came after the Palghar MLA was denied a ticket by the ruling Shiv Sena which nominated a veteran Rajendra Gavit, making Vanga emotional and suddenly going incommunicado since Monday night, expressing apprehensions over the safety of his wife and family.
Apparently rattled, CM Shinde immediately called up Vanga’s wife and reportedly promised to accommodate her husband in the Legislative Council later, but the family did not sound convinced.
After he went ‘missing’, the worried Vanga family and the Palghar Police are on the lookout for him amidst political speculation that he may contact one of the Opposition parties to make a last-minute bid for an Assembly nomination -- on the last day (October 29) of filing nominations for the November 20 Assembly elections.
A video message by Vanga – son of the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party MP, the late Chintaman S. Vanga who died in January 2018 – stormed the social media showing him crying out his heart, alleging how the ruling Shiv Sena dropped him on the grounds of a purported negative report and perceived difficulty in getting re-elected in 2024.
“I was dropped every time and suffered injustice… I was also denied a ticket for the Lok Sabha, and now again though the CM Shinde had assured that no MLA would be forced to sit at home. He did not keep his word,” Vanga said in the video interaction with some local mediapersons.
“It was because of Thackeray that I got the chance to become MLA. I made a blunder leaving him for traitors who have betrayed me…” declared Vanga, sounding depressed and desperate.
“I worked honestly, but what did I get? Nobody wants honest people. I was even assured a ticket from Dahanu, but that did not happen either,” said Vanga, naming certain political leaders from Thane as responsible for his predicament.
Incidentally, when Shinde had hatched the rebellion during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of ex-CM Thackeray (in June 2022), he had left Mumbai ostensibly to attend the birthday bash of Vanga’s son and slipped into Surat (Gujarat), and then on to Guwahati (Assam), Goa and finally back to Mumbai.
Earlier with the BJP like his deceased father, Vanga (who lost in Lok Sabha bypolls) switched camps to Shinde who had worked to get him into the (undivided) Shiv Sena.
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