Blow as key Rane aide in Thane joins Sena

THANE: In a blow to Narayan Rane, his staunch supporter from Thane, Congress corporator Ravi Phatak, along with six other Congress corporators quit the party to join the Shiv Sena.
The seven were inducted into the Sena fold by Uddhav Thackeray at the Thackerays’ Matoshree residence in Bandra. Besides Phatak and his wife Jayashree, who is also a corporator, the others who joined the Sena are Deepak Vedkar, Kanchan Chindarkar, Raja Gawari, Manjeet Kaur and Minal Sankhe.
Thane Sena unit chief Eknath Shinde and saffron MLA from the lake city Pratap Sarnaik were present at the time of the induction.
Uddhav said that the Sena had not engineered the split in the Congress unit in Thane. “The seven corporators expressed their desire to join the saffron party,” he said. Phatak told the media that he and his supporters were fed up with the Congress’s style of functioning and had joined the Sena unconditionally. “The Sena has a strong presence in Thane. We will work to further strengthen the saffron party in the region,” the close confidant of Rane said.
Reacting to the report of his associates joining the Sena, Rane told the media that people were free to join any party. “Those who have defected will soon realize their mistake,” he said.
A Sena functionary said more Congress corporators are likely to join the saffron party in the future. However, the Congress claimed that the defections would have no impact on the party in the region.