Mumbai: Four of the six corporators, who recently defected from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to the Shiv Sena, were rumoured to have returned to their original party on Wednesday, but the reports ultimately turned out to be false.
On Wednesday afternoon, hordes of MNS activists reached the house of party president Raj Thackeray after hearing that the four corporators — Datta Narvankar, Archana Bhalerao, Parameshwar Kadam and Harshala More — had arrived at Mr. Thackeray’s residence to meet him. The rumour mill started spreading the news that the four leaders wanted to return to the party.
By evening, however, Shiv Sena issued a written statement signed by all six corporators, appealing to people not to trust these reports.
Corporator Dilip Lande, one of the six rebel leaders, said, “We have not spoken to any MNS leader, including Raj Thackeray, since we joined the Sena. The news that we are rejoining MNS is absolutely false, and it seems the rumours are being spread by certain activists of the MNS to create confusion about us in the Shiv Sena.”
MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar, too, said that none of the four corporators have met Mr. Thackeray. “I am hearing about this from media personnel. None of these corporators have contacted us since they left the party,” he said.
In a mini political coup two weeks ago, six of the seven MNS corporators in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) defected to the Sena. Since then, the MNS has been alleging that the corporators were paid huge amounts of money to switch loyalties, and has sought an investigation into the matter.
