In yet another setback to Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), two-time winner of Maharashtra Kesari wrestling tournament and former Lok Sabha candidate from Sangli Chandrahara Patil on Monday joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
At the formal induction ceremony held in Thane, Shinde took a dig at the Sena (UBT) leadership without taking names.
Welcoming Patil into the party, Shinde said, “You have moved from a fake arena (Sena UBT) to the real battleground (Shinde led Sena). You are coming from those who play tricks to those who play with a clean heart.” He praised Patil for his achievements in traditional wrestling and compared political strategy to wrestling moves.
Other who joined the party along with Patil included Santosh Aba Vetal (first Hind Kesari from Satara), wrestler Vikas Patil and sarpanch Sagar Vanjari of Saygaon.
Patil, who was once seen as a close aide of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, contested the Lok Sabha elections on a Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket from Sangli constituency and lost. His candidature had become a major flashpoint in the fragile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, as Congress and Sena (UBT) struggled to come to terms on seat-sharing.
Both the Congress and the Sena UBT were vying for the Sangli seat. However, since Patil had joined Sena UBT just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the party was keen keen on contesting from the Sangli seat and that had strained the relations between the two alliance partners.
Chandrahar Patil’s shift to the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde is now being viewed as both symbolic and strategic, potentially opening up new political alignments ahead of the upcoming civic body elections.
