‘Shiv Sena’: The Election Commission on Friday allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and its election symbol ‘bow and arrow’ to the group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. This is considered a big blow for Uddhav Thackeray. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde termed the Election Commission’s decision to recognize his faction as the real Shiv Sena as truth and a victory of the people.
The Election Commission recognized the faction led by Chief Minister Shinde as the original Shiv Sena and gave the party its original election symbol ‘bow and arrow’. In a unanimous order on a six-month-old petition filed by Shinde, the three-member commission allowed the Thackeray faction to retain the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the ‘torch’ election symbol.
But this is not the first time in the country that a party has lost its name and its identity in this way. A similar moment had come in the country’s politics 28 years ago when the son-in-law had captured his own father-in-law’s party. The matter is of Andhra Pradesh.
Filmmaker NT Rama Rao founded the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh in 1983. After 9 months, he became the Chief Minister of the state. This was the first non-Congress government in the state.
NT Rama Rao was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in the year 1995. Meanwhile, his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu revolted. Many MLAs supported Naidu and Rama Rao’s CM chair went away. Rama Rao died shortly after this in January 1996.
After the death of NTR, Chandrababu Naidu was captured from the government to the organization. It is believed that this was the biggest reversal within a political party in India.