Mumbai: Days after witnessing a wave of defections from its traditional stronghold in Konkan, the Shiv Sena UBT held a crucial meeting in Mumbai with its leaders from Rajapur. The party, facing a threat due to local leaders shifting allegiance to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is now formulating a strategy to regain lost ground in the region. Meanwhile, the desertion trend has also spread to Marathwada, further weakening the party’s organisational strength.

Key Meeting Held At Matoshree

On Saturday, Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray convened a meeting of key leaders at Matoshree, where former MP Vinayak Raut was assigned the task of identifying new leaders for Rajapur. This move comes in the wake of former MLA Rajan Salvi’s defection to the Shinde faction, along with several other local leaders. Salvi had accused Raut of failing to support him, which he claimed led to his electoral defeat.

During the meeting, Raut reassured the leadership that the party still had strong support in Rajapur and the Konkan region. He emphasized the enduring influence of Balasaheb Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray, stating that the people of Konkan remained loyal. Raut also announced plans for a series of public rallies, beginning in Sangameshwar and extending to other areas of Ratnagiri, including Chiplun and Lanja, as part of the party’s outreach efforts.

Row Around Bhaskar Jadhav’s Recent Remarks

Notably absent from the meeting was Bhaskar Jadhav, the Sena UBT’s only remaining MLA from Konkan. His WhatsApp status further fueled speculation about his dissatisfaction with the party leadership, according to the report. The video he shared depicted goats blindly following their shepherd into a river, accompanied by a Marathi film song.

Jadhav, who has long displayed a photograph of himself with Bal Thackeray as his display picture, commented that leaders should be courageous and determined. His remarks were seen as an indirect critique of Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership, particularly regarding his own sidelining for key political positions.

Jadhav had earlier expressed disappointment over not being chosen as the leader of the opposition in the assembly, arguing that the party leadership should be more considerate of its cadre, especially during turbulent times. However, on Monday, he appeared to tone down his stance, clarifying that his previous comments were not aimed at any specific leader or party.

He stated that despite his 43-year political career, none of the parties he had been associated with had given him what he truly deserved. While he acknowledged Uddhav Thackeray’s approach of allowing discontented leaders to leave, he personally felt that such an attitude was not ideal for the party’s stability.

Party Struggling In Marathwada

Meanwhile, the crisis for the Sena UBT is deepening in Marathwada. Suresh Bankar, who had joined the party to contest the assembly elections from Sillod in Jalna, announced his return to the BJP, citing the interests of his constituents. Another assembly candidate from Aurangabad West, who had unsuccessfully contested against the Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Shirsat, is also rumored to be heading back to the BJP. Similarly, in Hingoli, Rupali Patil, who lost to the BJP’s Tanaji Mutkule, is reportedly unhappy with the party and may switch sides.

A Sena UBT leader from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar acknowledged that many local leaders, including Shinde and Rupali Patil, had been discontent for months and were likely to join one of the ruling parties. In the recent assembly elections, the party managed to secure only three out of 46 seats in Marathwada’s eight districts, despite the region being considered one of its strongholds. As defections continue, the challenge for Sena UBT is not only to retain its remaining leadership but also to rebuild its base in the face of an emboldened Shinde Sena and BJP.

Homes built on huts of poor people. The dark truth of collusion between BMCE ward officials and builders.

Mumbai: It is the dream of a common man to have his own house and when, after showing sympathy for them, their house is snatched away, then there is only curse on their lips. We are talking about hundreds of such families who were promised to be given permanent houses in place of their huts and the government also declared them entitled to permanent houses but some corrupt officials of Mumbai Municipal Corporation sold the files of their houses to well-known builders and these builders call themselves clean and righteous.

The work of removing hundreds of huts under E Ward Office started in the year 2017, in which the local corporator Raees Sheikh struggled a lot so that these footpath dwellers get permanent houses and the next generation of footpath dwellers who have been living like animals for many years can live in a good house, but the opposite happened.

You will be surprised to know that the BMC officials who bring shame to humanity have traded their integrity with the builders. Many hut owners were called and threatened to vacate their place and they will not get the house because their documents are not complete and they are ineligible for a government house. The frightened people appealed to social workers and local leaders that where will they go but nothing was achieved.

Assistant Engineer Parveen Mulk, Amjad Khan and other supporting officials working in the maintenance department of BMC E department called all the hut owners individually and held a meeting. In this meeting, the sub engineer and people of the local builder were also kept. The entire work was done under a well thought out conspiracy.

BMC officials issued a notice that you have to vacate the footpath and your documents are not enough to prove that you have been living there for 50 years. Meanwhile, the frightened hut holder was threatened by the builder’s man and then an affidavit was taken from the hut owner that he has given his hut to the builder’s relatives or his employees and in return the builder gave him some money so that he can settle in a rented house somewhere else.

Now the corrupt BMC E department officials have told in their report that when the hut was inspected, the person in whose name the hut was located was not found and the person whom he had allowed to live there, we have considered him as the hut owner and he will be given a house by the government.

In the next episode, this builder requests BMC to give space to the huts taken in his name and the huts in the name of his relatives in the high profile building being constructed by his company, which is accepted after taking money and the slum dwellers who are bogus are told to be shifted to the high profile project of the builder. Not only this, in lieu of giving place to these slum dwellers in his project, the builder also takes a good FSI from the government.

Do not forget to read in the next issue in which buildings houses worth crores have been given to slum dwellers, who are the corrupt officers and who are those kind cheater builders

Mumbai: In a major development in the ₹122 crore embezzlement case at New India Cooperative Bank, sources have revealed that the bank’s General Manager and Head of Accounts, Hitesh Mehta, has confessed to the fraud before Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials.

According to sources, Mehta admitted to withdrawing money from the bank since the COVID-19 period and distributing it among his close associates and friends.

Following this confession, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) took Mehta into custody for further investigation.

During an audit, the RBI discovered discrepancies in the bank’s cash reserves—₹112 crore missing from the Prabhadevi branch vault and ₹10 crore from the Goregaon branch vault. The investigation is ongoing, and further revelations are expected.