Ex-MLA Gholap claims Bhujbal had plans to return to Sena last year, says he has resigned as party's deputy leader

Former Maharashtra minister Baban Gholap said on Sunday he has resigned as a deputy leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and claimed that NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal had plans to return to their party a year ago but he thwarted it.

Gholap, who represented the Nashik Road-Deolali assembly constituency for five consecutive terms, said he was in Delhi last year when Sena’s Milind Narvekar informed him about Bhujbal planning to come back to their party.

Bhujbal, now a minister in the Eknath Shinde cabinet, started his political career with the Shiv Sena and was in the party for over two decades. He left the Sena in 1991 to join the Congress and later became a part of the Sharad Pawar-founded NCP.

Gholap said he then came to Mumbai and met then Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

“I asked Uddhavji how a person who troubled late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, arrested him, filed cases against me, Raj Thackeray and many others can join the party. He has troubled all of us, Shiv Sainiks. If he joins the party, where will we go,” Gholap told reporters recalling his submission to Thackeray.

The ex-MLA claimed Thackeray then told his close aide Narvekar that Bhujbal should not be allowed in the party. “The move was thus thwarted,” Gholap said.

Citing “recent developments”, the ex-minister said he has resigned as a deputy leader of Sena (UBT) and WhatsApped his resignation letter to Thackeray.

The Sena (UBT) leader said he learnt from their party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ that another leader, Vilas Shinde, has replaced him as the party’s liaison chief for the Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency.

Gholap said he is a staunch Shiv Sainik who strived to expand the party’s footprints in the region. “If things are moving this way, I would prefer to work as a common activist of the party.” Gholap is apparently unhappy over former MP Bhausaheb Wakchaure joining his party Sena. As the liaison chief for Shirdi Lok Sabha seat and an influential leader from the region, he was hopeful of getting a ticket from there in next year’s general elections, but that might not materialise with Wakchaure’s entry, according to political analysts.

The ex-minister said Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut has called him to Mumbai for a talk. “I will go to Mumbai tomorrow (Monday) and discuss the issue in detail,” he said.

Gholap was an MLA from Nashik Road-Deolali assembly seat from 1990 to 2014. In 2014, his son Yogesh Gholap became the MLA from the constituency but lost to NCP’s Saroj Ahire in 2019.

Meanwhile, former Nashik West assembly MLA Nitin Bhosale left Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and joined the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Sunday. He had won on an MNS ticket in 2009. Originally, he was a Shiv Sainik but later joined the MNS when Raj Thackeray formed his own party.