In another setback for the BJP, Sameer Desai, a former Mumbai BJP secretary and nephew of late Congress leader Gurudas Kamat, on Wednesday joined Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena. Since the last few months, several prominent leaders of BJP including Eknath Khadse quit the party and have joined Shiv Sena.
Desai who had joined the BJP in 2014, now officially associated with Shiv Sena on Wednesday at Matoshree in presence of the party president Uddhav Thackeray and other senior party leaders.
A two-term Congress corporator, Sameer Desai has also been the spokesperson of Mumbai Congress. Later, Desai had switched from Congress to the BJP. Soon after Desai’s admission, he was given the post of BJP secretary by the party.
Desai’s admission in Shiv Sena comes ahead of the civic body polls. It is also reported that with the entry of Desai, the Sena hopes to gain ground in the Goregaon (P/South ward) where the BJP has made inroads in the last BMC election.
After formally inducting Desai into the party Shiv Sena took to Twitter and shared the pictures with a welcome tweet.
Maharashtra Tourism and Environment minister Aaditya Thackeray also wrote, “Sameer Desai ji welcome to the Shiv Sena family and best wishes for the future.”
समीर देसाई जी तुमचे @ShivSena परिवारात स्वागत आणि पुढील वाटचालीसाठी शुभेच्छा. https://t.co/NbdLOacvhx
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) January 27, 2021
Earlier in January, this year two key BJP leaders Vasant Gite, a former MLA from the Nashik Central Assembly seat, and Sunil Bagul from Nashik had joined Shiv Sena.
During Nashik MLA joining to party, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut claimed that several more BJP leaders were on their way to joining the Sena.
