The Shiv Sena versus Shiv Sena row reached its zenith this last week, when its original party symbol, the bow and arrow, which has been the kernel of its identity since 1989, was frozen by the Election Commission of India. A harried Uddhav Thackeray and his nemesis Eknath Shinde, whose now infamous coup led him to the seat of power in July this year, in a quick-fix sought alternatives that at least for the upcoming Andheri East bypoll will come to be associated with them. Where Thackeray’s party will contest under the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the symbol of the mashaal (flaming torch), Shinde’s Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena was allotted two swords and a shield.

 “The fact that the EC has recognised two Shiv Senas, changes everything,” says senior journalist Vaibhav Purandare, who has authored Bal Thackeray and The Rise of the Shiv Sena, “With this development, the party is officially split. Until now, Uddhav claimed that there was only one Shiv Sena, and that Shinde’s was a rebel faction. But he can no longer say that, and this complicates things.”