Uddhav’s nephew on Bandra East nomination: Party was looking for a face

While justifying his nomination from the Bandra East seat for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, Varun Sardesai, the nephew of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, said he became a member of the party after a lot of hard work, unlike Shrikant Shinde and Zeeshan Siddique, whom he accused of getting “lateral entries” due to their fathers.
The fight for the Bandra East seat will witness a three-horse race as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) fielded Trupti Sawant and Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction fielded Zeeshan Siddique for the seat that was once considered a bastion of the undivided Shiv Sena.
Baba Siddique’s son, Zesshan Siddique won the Bandra East seat in 2019 as a Congress candidate. However, he was expelled from the party in August and joined NCP a few days back.
“Mine is not a lateral entry like Zeeshan Siddiqui or Shrikant Shinde. Party has given me this opportunity after working with the organization for last 14 years. I have earned the trust of party workers. I have interacted with people of Bandra east and left the decision to the party,” Sardesai said.
He said that the party was looking for a “face” and decided to entrust him with the opportunity after former mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, who was fielded by Shiv Sena in 2019, died last year.
He also said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray in 2022 was “pre-planned”. He said MLAs with Uddhav Thackeray knew that Shinde along with MLAs on his side were going to leave as they had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections.
He claimed that ministers claimed around 200 meetings took place leading up to Shinde’s rebellion after the Mahayuti government was formed in Maharashtra.
Sardesai alleged that Eknath Shinde had promised the government at the Centre that cross-voting would be done during the Maharashtra legislative council elections in 2022.
However, Shiv Sena candidates won as Yuva Sena workers had specifically ordered voting for their own candidate, he said, adding that Eknath Shinde’s rebellion was “pre-planned”.