In a boost to the ruling Shiv Sena party in Maharashtra, MLA Kiran Sarnaik has joined the party led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Sarnaik, an MLC from Amravati Teachers’ Constituency, joined the Sena late on Wednesday night.
After the submission, Shinde told reporters that Sarnaik had been working with him on various cases for many years. The legislator has now officially decided to serve as an associate member of the Shiv Sena.
The move came on the day when MLA Sachin Ahir of the Shiv Sena (UBT)-led opposition MLA Uddhav Thackeray was elected unopposed to the post of Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly as the candidate of the ruling Mahayoti Party.
Read also| Sachin Ahir was elected as Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council a day after he joined the Shiv Sena
Ahir filed his nomination on Tuesday as the ruling alliance’s candidate, winning the prize in Eknath Shinde’s aggressive political offensive, dubbed ‘Operation Tiger’, against the Thackeray-led Sena (UBT).
Last month, six Shiv Sena MPs (UBT) — Sanjay Dina Patel, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Omprakash Rajinimbalkar, Bhausaheb Wakchor, Nagesh Patil Ashtekar — joined the Sena under Shinde.
Gokul Jeet, a BJP rebel who last month defeated Shiv Sena candidate Kishore Darade from Nashik local body constituency in the Legislative Council elections, also recently joined Shinde Party as an associate member.
