Thaindian News

Mumbai, Jan 26 (IANS) Much to the Shiv Sena’s dismay, its two-time MP Anand Paranjpe moved closer to the Nationalist Congress Party Thursday, even attending a joint meeting with the Congress to finalise seat sharing for the Feb 16 Thane civic elections.

The presence of Paranjpe, the MP for Kalyan, at the meeting came barely six days after he shared a dais with NCP chief Sharad Pawar in the city and sought the latter’s help for “developmental issues concerning Thane.”

Indirectly hitting out at Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, Paranjpe had said last week that loyal party activists were being sidelined and the Shiv Sena which Bal Thackeray wanted is no more.

While Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe declined to comment on the development, another party leader Pratap Sarnaik said: “We are keeping our patience and shall deal with the issue at an appropriate time.”

However, claiming that Paranjpe’s family members and driver had deserted him, Sarnaik wondered how the ordinary NCP workers would accept his leadership, especially since he had trounced NCP’s Vasant Davkhare in Thane and had publicly criticized the top NCP leaders.

Paranjpe was elected on a Sena ticket in the by-election to Thane Lok Sabha constituency after his father, the late Prakash Paranjpe, a four-time Sena MP died in 2008.

In the 2009 general elections, he was again elected from the neighbouring Kalyan constituency (in Thane district).

With the civic elections round the corner, a worried Sena has decided to downplay the political fall-out of Paranjpe’s open pro-NCP stance.

Though spokesman and MP Sanjay Raut has dared Paranjpe to quit the party and the MP post before quitting Shiv Sena, the party is treading carefully on the issue of expelling him (Paranjpe).

Officially, Paranjpe has not defected to NCP, but party leaders point out that if Sena
expels him, it will help him retain his post as MP and also create sympathy for him on election-eve.