BATTLE BEFORE BALLOT

With local body elections just a few months away, the faction feud in the Shiv Sena will only intensify

- DNYANESH JATHAR

The battle between the two factions of the Shiv Sena-one led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and T another led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray-is getting dirtier and murkier by the day. The controversy over Sena's trademark Dussehra rally is only the latest in a series of spats between the two groups.

On October 2, M.K. Madhavi, former corporator of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, levelled a serious charge against Shinde and Deputy Commissioner of Police Vivek Pansare. (Elections to the NMMC, which is presently being run by an administrator as its tenure has ended, are due in October.)

Madhavi claimed that Pansare, on Shinde's instructions, threatened to extern him from Navi Mumbai. In a news conference attended by Thane MP Rajan Vichare, a Thackeray loyalist, Madhavi recalled Pansare's words: "Police will extern you and do your encounter if you do not join CM Shinde saheb soon." He added that Shinde, too, had called him. "Don't go to Matoshree (Thackeray residence), come to me. It will be beneficial to you and your activists. Your family and activists will not face any trouble, threatened CM Shinde," said Madhavi.

Madhavi told THE WEEK that what he had told the media were not mere allegations or accusations. "I have stated only facts," he said. "I am not joining the Shinde group, I am loyal to Matoshree."