Days after the Election Commission of India declared the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led camp as the “real” Shiv Sena, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Monday warned that the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 could well be the last if the continuing crisis involving his party is not brought to an end.
“If this (the current scenario in Maharashtra) is not stopped, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections may turn out to be the last elections in the country as after that anarchy will start here,” he said.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) president was speaking after an urgent meeting called today with his close associates at the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai to decide their future course of action, following the political developments. Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, Subhash Desai, Anil Desai and Anil Parab were present at the meeting.
Thackeray said that although the name and the party symbol have been “stolen” from his faction, the name “Thackeray” cannot be “stolen”.
“Everything has been stolen from me. The name and symbol of our party have been stolen but the name ‘Thackeray’ cannot be stolen. We have moved the Supreme Court against the decision given by the Election Commission, the hearing will start from tomorrow,” said Uddhav.
Thackeray also accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “planning” to “finish off” Shiv Sena, and said that “snatching” the party name and symbol was “part of a conspiracy”, reported PTI.
Thackeray also called for the dissolution of the Election Commission and mooted that ECs be “elected by people”.
In a major blow to the Thackeray camp, the EC on Friday recognised the Shinde faction as the “real” Shiv Sena and ordered that the party name and ‘bow and arrow’ symbol be retained by the party. Meanwhile, the EC allowed the Thackeray camp to retain the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the ‘flaming torch’ poll symbol, given to it in an interim measure in October 2022 for the Assembly by-polls.