Hours after Amit Shah’s visit to Sindhudurg, Shiv Sena jolts BJP

'Dear Uddhavji, Happy Valentine's Day... Shiv Sena is our old love… It’s said that you should never forget your old flame,' Narayan Rane said

Hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Sindhudurg in coastal Konkan region of Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena delivered a rude shock to its former ally when seven councillors of the BJP walked to its camp.

The development has not gone down well with BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and Konkan strongmen Narayan Rane, the bête noire of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The seven councillors are from Nagar Panchayat of Vaibhavwadi - which falls in Kankavli, from where Rane’s son Nitesh Rane is a BJP MLA. Rane Jr acknowledged the development in a sarcastic Valentine's Day message to Thackeray.

“Dear Uddhavji, Happy Valentine's Day... Shiv Sena is our old love… It’s said that you should never forget your old flame… Our ideal was always the late HinduHridaySamrat Balasaheb Thackeray… We respected him yesterday, today and will do so even in future…,” he said.

In a jibe, he said: “...in order to ensure that the Shiv Sena of Balasaheb Thackeray should not fall apart, the BJP was sending these seven councillors... moreover, the chief minister had very promptly cleared the files of our medical college ... We are not in a position to give him anything, but we are giving these seven councillors which we humbly request him to accept.”

It needs to be mentioned that Shah inaugurated the Lifetime Hospital’s Medical College on Sunday, when he had launched a scathing attack on Thackeray and Shiv Sena for parting ways with BJP and joining hands with the Congress-NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Last week, Mumbai BJP vice-president and former Congress MLA Krishna Hegde and a BJP ex-MLA Hemendra Mehta, followed by two former municipal corporators in Mumbai, Sameer Desai and Priscilla Kadam, other senior leaders like Anil Kadam, Vivek Gholap, all quit the BJP to join the Sena.