Maharashtra crisis: Camp Shinde a unique mix of MLAs

A closer look at the rebel Shiv Sena camp shows that the group is very unique mix. It comprises die-hard followers of Balasaheb Thackeray, fiercely loyal Shiv Sainiks as well as over a dozen 'ship-jumpers'.

The rebel camp has representation from all the five regions—Mumbai-Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha.

Rebel leader Eknath Shinde himself was groomed by ‘Darmaveer’ Anand Dighe, a man known for his devotion towards Balasaheb.

Another senior leader, Gulabrao Patil, is a five-time MLA from Jalgaon district.

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Bharat Gogawale, three-time MLA from Mahad, who has been appointed as chief whip is a hard-core Shiv Sainik, while Yamini Jadhav, the MLA from Byculla, is the wife of Yashwant Jadhav, a veteran of BMC politics.

Apart from these, others include those from Sonia Gandhi-led Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP, BJP, Raj Thackeray-led MNS and even from smaller parties and independents, who had supported various camps in the past.

Currently the Guwahati camp has 39 MLAs of Shiv Sena, two legislators of Prahar Janshakti Party and seven independent MLAs.

Those with a mixed background include Shrinivas Vanga (Palghar), Shahaji Patil (Sangola), Tanaji Sawant (Paranda), Shamburaj Desai (Patan), Prakash Surve (Magathane), Abdul Sattar (Sillod), Anil Babar (Khanapur), Suhas Kande (Nandgaon), Pratap Sarnaik (Ovala-Majiwada), Deepak Kesarkar (Sawantwadi), Mahesh Shinde (Koregaon), Dilip Lande (Chandivali), Uday Samant (Ratnagiri), Prakash Abitkar (Radhanagari), Sada Savankar and Mahendra Thorve (Karjat).

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Kesarkar, the Shinde-camp spokesperson, is a three-time MLA from Sawantwadi -- representing NCP once and Shiv Sena twice. He was the Minister of State for Finance in the Devendra Fadnavis-headed BJP-Shiv Sena government.

Sarnaik, a three-time MLA from Ovala-Majiwada is a former NCP MLA who switched sides and joined Shiv Sena to become legislator. Sarnaik, a veteran of Thane politics, hails from Shinde’s bastion.

Kande, whose vote was invalid in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, started off in the MNS and so did Lande, a loyalist of Raj, when the party was founded.

Samant, who is the Higher and Technical Education Minister, had been associated with NCP in the past. Sawant joined the Shiv Sena recently.

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Desai hails from a Congress family in Satara district. Surve was earlier associated with the NCP and joined the Shiv Sena a few years ago.

Sarvankar’s roots are from Shiv Sena but in between he joined Congress only to return to his parent party and become an MLA. Shinde is originally from the BJP.

Babar had earlier been associated with Congress and NCP.