SAI

Addressing the party's signature annual Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park before a mammoth crowd, the ex-Chief Minister said that on Dussehra, the tradition is to burn an effigy of the 10-headed demon king Ravana. "But this year, the Ravana is different, with 50 mouths...

"But this year, the Ravana is different, with 50 mouths... We have a  dhokhasur' (traitor),  khokhasur', (slang for crores of rupees), a  katappa'... Your ministerial posts may go away, but the blot of  traitor' will remain permanently on your faces, it can never be erased," Thackeray said, targetting Shinde, who had rebelled to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in June.

Both factions of the Sena led by Thackeray and Shinde will hold their Vijaya Dashami rallies at Shivaji Park and Bandra Kurla Complex grounds, respectively, under the common party name and an embittered ambience after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was toppled in June.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, and Sena's veteran ex-minister Chandrakant Khaire besides other leaders have made the sensational claims, sparking off a political row. Speaking to mediapersons in Nanded, Chavan said that in 2017, ahead of the local body elections in the state, a delegation of Shiv Sena comprising Shinde -- then a Minister in the BJP-led government of ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis -- had met him in his office with a proposal to sever ties with the BJP.

"In a democracy, the majority counts and we have that majority in the assembly, a majority of the MPs are supporting us. All decisions taken in the country are based on the Constitution, laws and procedures. We have not done anything to flout any laws and we have formed this government also on the basis of the laws. We were expecting this decision," Eknath Shinde said.

A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, said there will be no stay on proceedings before the EC to decide intra-party dispute in Shiv Sena between Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde faction, on which one is the original party and also on getting the party symbol.

Clearly taken aback by the political-economic bombshell with long-term ramifications, CM Eknath Shinde spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Tuesday where the latter reportedly assured him of "giving even bigger projects to Maharashtra" in the future.

Memon, 53, a CA, was found guilty and convicted for his role in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai blasts, and hanged in Nagpur Central Jail on July 30, 2015, after all his pleas for pardon/clemency up to the President were rejected. An earthen grave, the burial site in Mumbai recently got a face-lift with a marble grave coming up there, amid lighting and apprehensions that the terrorist's final resting place would soon become a 'mazar' (mausoluem).

Considering the terrible scenario, instead of tackling the agrarian crises which has assumed demonic proportions, ministers and leaders of the Shinde-Fadnavis are "busy dancing" in different areas, claimed Kishore Tiwari, who is Chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission (VNSSM).

The Shiv Sena President and ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is facing competition from the rebel faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and even the Raj Thacekray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is toying with the idea of a rally at the Shivaji Park.