Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 22 : Amid the ongoing tussle within the Mahayuti, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey on Thursday took a dig at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, claiming that a new faction will emerge out of Shiv Sena in the coming days.
Referring to the split of the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022, he said that history was about to repeat itself, with a new faction set to form amid the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Dubey suggested that the new faction will emerge out of Eknath Shinde's Sena, hinting that it will be led by Maharashtra Minister Uday Ravindra Samant.
"In 2022, a faction broke away from our party, the Shiv Sena, and established itself in Surat. Its name was ESS (Eknath Sambhaji Shinde). Now, history is about to repeat itself once again. Far from the land of India, in a place called Davos, a new group (faction) is about to be formed. The name is URS (Uday Ravindra Samant)," Dubey said.
He added, "You will ask, 'What is URS?' This is the game behind the curtain. The URS group is emerging on Davoas' land. The old phrase, that is, 'you reap what you sow'. You broke our party. Someone else breaks yours. You go to Surat and form a party. Some go to Davos to make a party. But in Maharashtra and Mumbai, a new group will appear. Sources said that big leaders and businessmen in Davos come together to discuss politics as well as business. Soon, Maharashtra and Mumbai will see a new group (faction), which will be called URS".
On Wednesday, UBT Sena MP Sanjay Raut took a sharp jibe at Eknath Shinde over a tussle within Mahayuti for the Mumbai mayoral post, saying the Maharashtra Deputy CM will have to convince senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to have their mayor in the BMC.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Sanjay Raut said, "Nobody cares about Shinde for the mayoral post. There is nothing more insulting than those who call themselves Shiv Sena and put up Balasaheb's photo and have to go to Delhi to sit at the feet of Gujarati leaders for the post of Mumbai mayor."
The BJP-Shiv Sena swept the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, but the decision for the mayoral post has not been made yet. The BJP emerged as the largest party with 89 of 227 seats and is eyeing the mayoral post, while Eknath Shinde aims to maintain Shiv Sena's legacy of control over India's richest municipal corporation.