Mumbai: Five out of 40 MLAs who left the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray and went with Eknath Shinde in June 2022 lost in the assembly polls. Two are from Mumbai, and 3 have been defeated by Sena UBT.
Shahaji Patil, the Sangola MLA who had given the quote about “beautiful trees and mountains” during thier stay in Guwahati lost, and the others who were defeated were Yamini Jadhav (Byculla), Sada Sarvankar (Mahim), Sanjay Raimulkar (Mehekar), and Dnyanraj Chougule (Omerga).
Apart from them, 2 independents MLAs Bachchu Kadu (Achalpur) and Geeta Jain (Mira Bhayander) who had backed Shinde too lost the polls. CM Shinde had vowed to make sure all his 40 MLAs would win the polls since they had joined him against Uddhav.
Shinde passed with a certain distinction in the polls test and is now seen as neta of the ‘real Shiv Sena’. With his Sena winning 57 seats, it has beaten the united Shiv Sena’s tally of 56 in the 2019 assembly polls. The Sena fought only 81 seats, giving it one of its best strike rates even compared to the united Sena in 2014 and 2019. Having achieved this puts Shinde and his Sena as the top regional party in the state and in many ways, the ‘real Shiv Sena’.