Trouble for Shiv Sena after 200 party members quit over Navi Mumbai Assembly seats being offered to BJP’s Ganesh Naik

The Navi Mumbai unit of Shiv Sena on Tuesday witnessed infighting within the party after 200 Shiv Sainiks, resigned, protesting against the party’s decision to offer an election ticket to former NCP leader Ganesh Naik from the constituency. Of the 200 Shiv Sena workers, the resignation list also included the names of party’s city unit chief and district vice-president. [caption id=“attachment_6057191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. PTI[/caption] Naik, who had defected to the BJP on 11 September along with his son Sandeep, has reportedly been offered to contest the Maharashtra Assembly polls on 21 October from Airoli and Belapur constituencies in Navi Mumbai, Moneycontrol reported. The reason cited by a Sena leader from Navi Mumbai to opt out of the party was dissatisfaction and non-compliance to work with Naik. “We have the organisational strength, the capability and the cadre. To campaign for someone like Naik, who has been hell-bent on destroying Sena in Navi Mumbai for the past 20 years, is unacceptable. The workers did not want to do that,” Moneycontrol quoted the leader as saying. The development comes a day after NDA allies – BJP and Shiv Sena – issued a press release signed by BJP state president Chandrakant Patil and senior Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai, confirming an alliance in the run-up to the polls. Though Patil said that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will jointly declare the seat-sharing equation, the two parties are yet to disclose the arrangement. On Monday, the alliance was announced via press release by Maha Yuti (Grand Alliance) of the BJP, Shiv Sena, RPI, RSP and other political parties, News18 reported. Maharashtra is scheduled to go to polls on 21 October, along with Haryana, in a single-phase election. Counting of votes in both states will be on 24 October.