Keeping in mind the bitter backdrop in which the two Sena factions are likely to come face-to-face with each other on October 5, the Mumbai police, along with the Maharashtra administration, are leaving nothing to chance.
Thousands of Shiv Sainiks are expected to accompany Eknath Shinde on his visit to Ayodhya on Sunday, his first such visit after being sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in June last year.
Scores of Shiv Sainiks on Wednesday intensified their stir against Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Asim Azmi by courting arrest outside the Maharashtra legislative assembly.
'I came here to witness the historic message this oath-taking ceremony has sent to the nation and Maharashtra.'
Thackeray, who assumed office on November 28, 2019, is visiting Ayodhya weeks after the Centre constituted a trust to oversee construction of a Ram temple at the once disputed site in the town.
Alleged Shiv Sainiks detained for disrupting Rane's meeting
Forty Shiv Sainiks were arrested on Monday in Indore for protesting against Valentine's Day celebrations.
Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Friday said not only his colleagues in the assembly but also Maharashtra is happy that 'Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sainik has become the chief minister'.
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Monday came in defence of his party workers and blamed the attack on the 'Maharashtra Times' office on Nationalist Congress Party's state president Madhukar Pichad.
The "marriage" was performed to give out message of sanctity of male-female relationships and to oppose westernised concept of expression of love, Nana Wadekar, city unit chief of Shiv Sena said. Police, however, said they had no such reports of "forcible" marriage or complaints from the concerned couples. The Sainiks made bonfires of "obscene' Valentine Day cards at some places, Wadekar said.
Last month, Sena activists had gone on a rampage, attacking MSEB offices at a number of places across the state protesting frequent power cuts.
About fifty Shiv Sainiks tried to enter the stadium in Kanpur, but were denied entry by security persons.
Embattled Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday addressed the state online, and made it clear that he had no intention of continuing in office if his own MLAs didn't want him.
Sunil and 19 other Shiv Sainiks, who were granted bail on a bond of Rs 25,000 each, were arrested on November 25 last year for vandalising the office of IBN-Lokmat and assaulting its staff.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut claimed on Sunday that many newly elected Shiv Sena corporators, who originally belonged to the Bal Thackery-founded party before its division, do not want a Bharatiya Janata Party mayor in Mumbai.
Shinde also emphasised that Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor, dismissing reports of new political equations after the results of the civic polls were declared last week.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said his party's MPs will chant 'Vande Mataram' loudly in Parliament, daring the BJP to throw them out.
'At 10:30 pm last night, I received several WhatsApp calls from Bangladesh. They abused and insulted my family and me and threatened that my country would be destroyed and broken apart.'
All the four accused persons, identified as Ajay, Gautam, Sumit and Jitu, have been arrested by the police, the spokesperson said.
'We have given riot-free Maharashtra in our 18-month rule.'
As the news spread, workers of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray rushed to the spot and cleaned the premises.
'It would have polarised the Marathi-non Marathi divide further. 'Fadnavis had a very clear strategy: Let all Marathi people campaign for us (the BJP), and whatever results we get will be delivered by Marathi people only.'
'When a grassroots worker has laboured day and night for the organisation, does the party not have a responsibility to recognise and uplift such workers?'
Appealing for restrain over the debate on erecting a memorial for his late father and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, party executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said, the decision in this regard will be taken by lakhs of sainiks.
The world knew who Balasaheb's Shiv Sainik was. But who was Uddhav's Shiv Sainik? And most importantly, why did he believe in Uddhav, and not Nitin Gadkari or Devendra Fadnavis?
Shiv Sena functionary Rahool Kanal has said that comedian Kunal Kamra, who is facing a police case in Mumbai for making a derogatory remark against Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, will be welcomed in "Shiv Sena-style" when he comes to the city. Kanal also said the party has written to the Mumbai police demanding a probe against Kamra under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) over foreign funding and unaccounted money. Kamra was summoned to appear before the Mumbai police on March 31 in a case related to derogatory remarks against Shinde. The Madras High Court granted interim anticipatory bail to the comedian on the condition that he execute a bond to the satisfaction of the judicial magistrate at Vanur in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu.
'This will split the Marathi and Shiv Sena vote.' 'The BJP has conducted 3 surveys indicating they shall secure 109 seats in the BMC.' 'They do not wish for the Shinde Sena to demonstrate excessive strength in the BMC.' 'If the Thackerays secure 60-70 seats, that will affect Shinde's seats.'
The Shiv Sena is opposed to Pakistan's cricket tour of India.
Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray's daughter-in-law and film producer Smita Thackeray on Tuesday met with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who she said is an "old-timer" Sena activist.
Wielding saffron flags and chanting 'Pakistanis go back' and 'Vande Mataram', Shiv Sena workers on Tuesday barged into a press conference of a music band from Pakistan, heckled the artistes and vandalised the venue, police said.
Shiv Sena functionary Rahool Kanal has claimed that BookMyShow has removed stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from its platform following protests from the party. Kanal, the social media in-charge of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, thanked BookMyShow CEO Ashish Hemrajani for "keeping its portal clean and keeping such artist out of the list of pure entertainment." BookMyShow has not commented on the matter. Kanal was booked along with Shiv Sainiks for allegedly vandalising the studio where Kamra had performed and alluded to Shinde while making a traitor jibe, which snowballed into a major row.
Sena's newly appointed deputy leader Anita Birje said Sainiks will rise to the occasion if anyone tries to do so.
For years Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has enthralled his supporters with his fiery speeches from Shivaji Park at Dadar, central Mumbai. On Sunday, thousands of mourners will pay their last respect to him at the same ground.
"I feel no one can reject the contribution of Maharashtra and Marathi people in the history and present of the country. If someone is rejecting it, then I feel it is wrong," Fadnavis said.
The workers expressed their indignation by covering up a Kurbaan poster.
Adding fuel to speculations that the Shiv Sena may opt for a pre-poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party, Leader of the Opposition Ramdas Kadam today said that many party men were unhappy with the party's ties with the BJP.
Uddhav earlier addressed a rally in Vengurla, where he began campaigning for the ensuing zilla parishad and panchayat samiti polls in Maharashtra.
In May, 40 Rohingyas were blindfolded and flown to the Andaman and Nicobar islands and then thrown into the sea and made to swim to an island in Myanmar. And after the Pahalgam attack, at least 300 Muslims were 'pushed back' to Bangladesh from Assam.
The Mumbai office of Marathi television news channel IBN Lokmat in Vikhroli was attacked by a mob claiming to be from the Shiv Sena on Friday evening at about 4 pm.
Kunal Kamra has accepted money from Uddhav Thackeray and is targeting Eknath Shinde, Mhaske alleged.
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