MUMBAI: After breaking the Shiv Sena and forming a government with the BJP, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde seems to be planning to get senior Sena leaders on board to bolster his claim over the party.
Shinde on Thursday met former CM Manohar Joshi. Earlier in the day, he also met Sena ex-minister Liladhar Dhake.
Both Joshi and Dhake worked with Balasaheb Thackeray. Shinde recently also met Shiv Sena’s Lok Sabha MP, Gjajanan Kirtikar.
Commenting on his visits, Shinde said these leaders have contributed immensely for the Sena.
“After taking charge of CM’s office, I decided to meet these Shiv Sainiks who have put in their everything for the party.” He revealed that Joshi gifted him a booklet of 60 schemes implemented when he was the CM. “He told me that these were finalised after consulting Balasaheb. I will surely implement some of them,” Shinde added.
Joshi, who is in his eighties, was the chief minister during the first Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state in 1995-99, while Dake was a minister in that dispensation.
A statement issued by Shinde's office said the chief minister visited Dake at his house in Chembur in the morning before meeting Joshi at the latter's office at Dadar in central Mumbai.
"Shinde inquired about their health and well-being, and took their blessings. Both the senior leaders were happy that an ordinary Shiv Sainik has become the chief minister, and guided him," the statement said.
Shinde had last month raised a banner of revolt against the Sena leadership.
His rebellion, in which 40 out of the 55 Sena MLAs supported him, led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on June 29.
The next day, Shinde took oath as the chief minister with Bharatiya Janata Party's senior leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.
Meanwhile, Police on Thursday arrested four persons in connection with an attack on Shiv Sena office-bearer Nilesh alias Bala Kokane in Nashik city of Maharashtra, a senior official said.
Unidentified persons had attacked Kokane at around 10.45 pm on July 18 when he was on a two-wheeler in the MG Road area of the north Maharashtra city.
They had assaulted the Sena leader with sharp and hard objects from behind, leaving him injured.
Addressing a press conference, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sanjay Barkund said four suspects were arrested from the Gadkari Chowk area for the attack on Kokane.
The police identified the suspects as Manoj Patil, Pankaj Sonawane, Sagar Dighole and Suraj Rajput, all residents of Nashik.
However, the motive behind the attack was not yet known.
The action came after the Shiv Sena announced it will organist a protest march to the police commissionerate on July 30, when Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is scheduled to visit Nashik, if the culprits were not arrested.
The motive behind the attack and other details will be known after further investigation, said DCP Barkund.
Earlier in the day, a Shiv Sena delegation met the police commissioner and demanded the arrest of the attackers, who they claimed, were from the rival faction of the party.
(With PTI Inputs)