Senior Shiv Sena member Ramdas Kadam quit as a “leader” of the party, even as he questioned the leadership of former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Kadam, a 58-year-old veteran politician from Maharashtra’s Konkan region, is a four-time member of legislative assembly (MLA), two-time member of legislative council (MLC), and had served as a minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena government during 2014-2019, but was not given any ministerial post when the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi was in power.
His son, Yogesh Kadam is an MLA who joined the Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde faction last month. The senior Kadam, who had worked closely with the late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, had been sulking for some time now.
“Balasaheb Thackeray made me a ‘leader’ of the Shiv Sena. However, after this death, I experienced that the post now has no value,” he wrote in the letter to Uddhav.
In the letter, Kadam pointed out that in 2019, he was among those who had requested Uddhav not to form an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Indian National Congress.
Kadam was not on good terms with former minister and MLC Anil Parab, who is a close aide of Uddhav.
Kadam, in the letter, also claimed that his son Yogesh was insulted several times in the recent past. He also said that while Uddhav was Chief Minister, he was busy all the time, and never took into confidence senior leaders of the party about major matters.
Published 18 July 2022, 11:03 IST