Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna' slams 'disgruntled' Manohar Joshi

Breaking his silence on senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi’s dissenting voice and subsequent humiliation in the Dusshera rally, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has warned Joshi that he owed his position to the party and Shiv Sainiks.

Without naming Joshi, an editorial on Wednesday in the party mouthpiece Saamna which is edited by Uddhav and has Rajya MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor said anarchy in the party will not be tolerated. It said “new experiments” would have to be undertaken in the Sena, with fresh blood being encouraged even at the cost of the old order resisting it. In the editorial, Uddhav stressed that he was capable of leading the party.

“Manohar Joshi over-played his hand,” said a Sena insider, adding that Joshi who was Maharashtra’s chief minister and the Lok Sabha Speaker, but was miffed at being sidelined may have burnt his bridges with the leadership.

There are speculations that Joshi, whose observations about Uddhav in a public interview had triggered a storm, may contest Rajya Sabha polls in 2014 as an ‘independent’ with NCP and MNS support.

However, a Sena MP said there were little chances of Joshi quitting, though he would have to eat humble pie in case he wanted to continue in the Sena with Uddhav reportedly in no mood for a rapprochement.

On Sunday, as some Sena activists booed Joshi off the stage, Uddhav and his son Aaditya, who heads the Yuva Sena, made half-hearted attempts to pacify the crowd. Joshi is out of Mumbai and is likely to return only later this week.

“… Even today, what is ordained by Shiv Sainiks happens in the Shiv Sena,” said the editorial, adding that the Sena had been formed as a pressure group in Maharashtra’s interests but later waded into electoral politics to gain power and shape policy.

“…some people became corporators, mayors, legislators, MPs, ministers and chief ministers.

The Shiv Sena could rise to the position of the Lok Sabha Speaker. If there was no Shiv Sena, and the Shiv Sainiks had not shed their sweat and blood for victory, could anyone even dream of these positions?” the editorial asked in a not-so-indirect reference to Joshi.

“While keeping the Shiv Sena chief as a beacon, fresh blood and new thoughts will have to be accommodated,” the editorial said, quoting Niccolo Machiavelli about how those with entrenched interests would oppose change.

It added that history had shown how feudatories had taken kingdoms to seed.

“Our Shiv Sainiks have the strength to change the present rulers of Maharashtra and bring in a new dispensation. Those who have seen their sparks on the Shivteerth (Shivaji Park) must not play with fire,” it said.