MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Tuesday suffered a major blow, with four of its former MLA’s, including party chief Raj Thackeray’s friend Pravin Darekar, switching over to the saffron party.
The defectors -- Darekar, Vasant Gite, Ramesh Patil and Kashinath Megle -- claimed that they were ill treated in the MNS.
The four joined the BJP in the presence of its state president Raosaheb Danve, who said that the saffron party had not made any promises to them. “Neither did we offer them something nor did they demand anything. They are impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our party president Amit Shah,” he said.
A source in the MNS said the four leaders felt humiliated when Raj “undermined their authority in the party”. Raj had made Gite report his friend Avinash Abhyankar and refused to hear Gite’s grievances.Darekar’s defection was unexpected, taking into consideration his “close friendship” with Raj since their college days.
Darekar, an ex-MLA from Mumbai, had followed his mentor Raj when the latter decided to quit the Shiv Sena following his differences with cousin Uddhav.
Darekar was upset with Raj because he did not “defend” him when he lost the October Assembly election to the Sena’s Prakash Surve. A dejected Darekar had resigned as general secretary after Raj’s jibe that the party leader failed to impress the voters. Retaliating to the move, Raj had ordered his cadre to boycott Darekar and his younger brother Prakash. He also returned a Jeep gifted by Darekar in their college days.