Shinde targets Aaditya’s constituency; 2 ex-corporaors switch loyalty in one week

Two former corporators from Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray’s Worli constituency have defected to the Eknath Shinde faction in last one week, signaling a targeted poaching by the ruling party in its latest round of offensive on the Thackeray family scion.

On January 30, Santosh Kharat joined Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS). Four days later, another former corporator, Mansi Madhukar Dalvi, was welcomed to the party by Shinde at a function on Saturday.

Meanwhile, when Aaditya was busy preparing the next leg of his Shivsanvad Yatra from Nashik district on Monday, BSS inducted a group of local leaders and office-bearers from the rival faction into the party fold.

A confident Aaditya, however, told reporters in Nashik that there would be no cabinet expansion as the government would fall soon. He was responding to a question about the ongoing case of disqualification of Shinde and other rebel MLAs in the Supreme Court.

During his four-day tour, Aaditya will visit three districts - Nashik, Aurangabad and Jalana.

Chief minister Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis are scheduled to attend a felicitation function in Worli on Tuesday.

Though the fishermen are organising the event to show both leaders their gratitude for fulfilling their demands of keeping the navigation channel for their boats away from Coastal Road, BJP and BSS workers have planned to use this opportunity to put up a show of strength.