For the last few days, several local NCP leaders in Thane have joined the Shiv Sena. However, on Friday it was the NCP’s turn, which snapped up a bigger fish — Shiv Sena’s member of Parliament from Thane — Anand Paranjape.
Though Mr Paranjape has not joined the NCP formally, he lashed out at Uddhav Thackeray in the presence of Sharad Pawar at the NCP office. The Sena MP also praised Mr Pawar for his leadership.
This was at a press conference called by NCP chief Sharad Pawar to interact with the media regarding the civic body elections. The sitting MP, however, despite announcing his loyalty with the Sena and Bal Thackeray gave clear indications that he was no longer with the Shiv Sena.
“Like innumerable Shiv Sainiks, I still think of the esteemed Balasaheb as my God. But the Shiv Sena today is not the party that he formed. The Sena formed during the days of Anand Dighe and Prakash Paranjpe (his father) used to be a family. It had the principle of 80 per cent social work and 20 per cent politics, but today the Sena leadership is power hungry,” said Mr Paranjape, without mentioning Uddhav.