Mumbai: Both Senas, allies show strength at SOBO rallies

Party workers of the two of Shiv Sena factions along with their allies marched towards the city collectorrsquos office on Monday to file nominations Three candidates from both factions completed their paperwork for the Mumbai South and Mumbai South Central seats with the latter featuring a Sena versus Sena fight between Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray UBT candidate Anil Desai and Eknath Shinde factionrsquos incumbent MP Rahul ShewaleSena UBTrsquos incumbent MP Arvind Sawant also filed his nomination on Monday However it is still uncertain whom he will be fighting against for the seat as the Shinde Sena and the BJP alliance Mahayuti have not yet declared a candidate from Mumbai SouthldquoWe will declare all the remaining candidates before the last day to file nominations There could be strategic reasons for not declaring themrdquo said Sheetal Mhatre Sena Shinde faction spokesperson While Sena UBTrsquos rally for the two candidates began from Colaba to the Old Customs House Sena Shinde started the rally from the GPOSena Shinde and allies party cadre await Shewalersquos arrivalldquoWe are Hindus too but our religion and Bal Thackerays teachings did not tell us to trample other religions to climb the ladder That is what the BJP and its allies do they spread haterdquo Padmavati Shinde a Sena UBT party worker from Chembur for the last 20 years said when asked about the cadres views on the alliance with the Congress and the left parties the INDIA blocOn the other side there was anger towards Uddhav Thackeray for ldquoabandoningrdquo his fathers ideals ldquoFor power he went along with the Congressrdquo said female party workers participating in the Shinde Sena rally for ShewaleAt the Sena UBT rally apart from the Thackeray family and the two candidates workers also carried posters condemning the arrest of opposition leaders like Arvind Kejriwal Some slogans here were all too familiar with chants of ldquogaddarrdquo traitor and references to ldquo50 khokasrdquo insinuating that those with Shindes Sena took money to break away from the Thackerays There were also some party workers carrying an actual lsquomashalrsquo flaming torchmdashthe party symbolldquoDuring the last two elections we were the ones who campaigned for that traitor Shewale and sent him to parliament In return he betrayed Uddhavsahebrdquo said Asha Sawant a Sena UBT worker campaigning for DesaiShewalersquos rallyShewales rally featured pictures of Narendra Modi Shinde and Anand Dighe along with flags of the Republican Party India Ramdas Athawle and NCP Ajit Pawar This was also the case with Sena UBT where the party flag was seen alongside CPI M INC AAP NCP Sharadchandra Pawar There is also another reason why some undivided Sena workers chose to jump over to Shindes side in the South Central constituency for which Shewale is the candidatePushpa Pawar a Sena Shinde worker from Mankhurd who has been a ldquoShiv Sainikrdquo for the last 20 years said that in the last 10 years Shewale has improved civic facilities in the area ldquoRoads have become better There is now a hospital and there are better schools and some of the water issues we faced have been resolvedrdquo she said When pointed out that these issues fall under the municipal corporation she responded ldquoThat is true but someone has to get those works done Shewale did thatrdquoArchana Gaikar has been with the undivided Sena for 15 years and joined the Shinde faction after the split ldquoMost of us wouldnt have left Thackeray if it wasnt for Shewale We left for him If he had stayed we wouldve stayedrdquo she saidUmesh Naik secretary of Sena UBTaffiliated Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti Mahasangh said Desai has had a grassroots upbringing and has fought for rights of the Marathi manoos since the 1970s ldquoHe may look like a gentleman with corporate attire but he has fought on the ground since early years of Sena to secure employment for the sons of the soilrdquo he said adding that Desais focus if elected would be on employment ldquoUnemployment is at an alltime high and people need jobs He will also be taking issues of Dharavi residents into consideration with regards to redevelopment If there is a government formed Desai may also be considered for a ministerrsquos postrdquo Naik saidKachendra VamanPatil a resident of Girgaon who has been with the Sena for more than 20 years said ldquoNot long before leaving us Balasaheb asked us to look after his son as we looked after him We remain with Uddhavsaheb for that reasonrdquo