Eknath Shinde calls crucial meeting of Shiv Sena national executive

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will on Tuesday hold the national executive meeting of the Shiv Sena, days after the Election Commission recognised his faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the 'bow and arrow' poll symbol to it.

The meeting will be attended by MLAs, MPs and other Shiv Sena leaders who have been working with Shinde since he broke away from the party led by Uddhav Thackeray, a close aide of the CM said.

This would be the first party-level meeting to be chaired by CM Shinde, after the Election Commission's decision that the name Shiv Sena and its poll symbol will remain with the Shinde camp, he said.

"Some decisions could be expected such as appointment of the new executive committee, he added.

Shinde on Monday said no claim will be laid on any party property post the Election Commission decision on the real Shiv Sena as "we are heirs of Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology and have no temptations".

"I have no greed for property or funds of the Shiv Sena. I am a person who has always given something to others, he had told reporters.

Those who were tempted by property and wealth took the wrong step in 2019, he had said in an apparent reference to Uddhav Thackeray breaking the Shiv Sena's alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party post the Assembly poll results over the sharing of the chief ministerial tenure.

"The Election Commission took the decision on the Shiv Sena name and bow and arrow symbol as per rules, and the office in the 'vidhimandal' (Legislature complex) is of the Shiv Sena. As far as property is concerned, we have no temptations," the CM had said.