Uddhav Thackeray vs Shinde: A fresh tug-of-war between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has started as the former sets its eyes to establish absolute control after the Election Commission of India (ECI) awarded it the name Shiv Sena and the ‘bow and arrow symbol.
While the Uddhav Thackeray camp has been reeling from the Election Commission’s decision to recognize the faction led by Eknath Shinde as the true Shiv Sena, the former appeared to have won the internet war over the Maharashtra chief minister. Shiv Sena’s website, shivsena.in, has deleted, and its Twitter handle has changed to ShivSena – Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray. Because the account’s Twitter handle was also changed, it no longer has the ‘blue tick’ that indicates a verified account.
Though the Shiv Sena website cannot accessed, the link still mentioned on the Twitter profile page of Shiv Sena UBT.
It is yet to seen if the Shinde faction challenges this social media takeover in court.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has begun to plan for the upcoming legal battle, with a team led by MP Anil Desai consulting legal experts on the best available options. A petition challenging the ECI decision will filed in the Supreme Court on Monday. As an immediate remedy, the Sena (UBT) is attempting to obtain a stay of the ECI order by linking it to the Supreme Court petition regarding the disqualification of Shinde and 15 other rebel MLAs.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena already filed a caveat, demanding that it heard before any order passed on Thackeray’s plea. “We have done this because there is no one-sided decision and we must get a notice before hearing the matter,” said Shiv Sena secretary Kiran Pawaskar.
