One year after split, two Shiv Senas to mark foundation day at separate events
Mumbai (PTI): The Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray-led factions of the Shiv Sena will celebrate the party's foundation day at separate events here on Monday.
Bal Thackeray, a political cartoonist, founded the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966, and made the pride of `Marathi manoos' (Marathi speakers in Mumbai) the core plank of its politics.
Both the factions have now been trying to claim the mantle of the 'true inheritor' of party founder late Bal Thackeray's legacy ahead of the next year's Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections as well as the long-due civic polls in Mumbai.
The Shiv Sena split in June last year after Shinde and 39 other party MLAs rebelled against then Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government of the Sena, NCP and Congress.
Shinde then became chief minister with the BJP's support and the Election Commission of India subsequently granted his faction the original party name and `bow and arrow' symbol while the Thackeray group was named Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
While the Shinde-led Shiv Sena will hold its event at the NESCO ground in Goregaon in northwest Mumbai on Monday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) will celebrate the foundation day at Shanmukhanand Hall at Sion in central Mumbai.
Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, the son of chief minister Eknath Shinde, last week said party workers from across the state will gather for the event.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has asserted that the Uddhav Thackeray-led group is the real Shiv Sena.
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Trump pauses Project Freedom, claims great progress for final agreement with Iran
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump has suspended “Project Freedom,” to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming progress in negotiations with Iran toward an agreement to end the war.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, “Great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”
“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump said.
Project Freedom was launched on Monday to escort ships, stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, out to safety. Trump had announced the operation on Sunday and the US Central Command began implementing it the next day.
However, the Project led to friction in the vicinity of the narrow seaway, a key route for transporting one-fifth of the global oil supplies, with the UAE claiming that its ships were attacked by Iran. The US also claimed to have destroyed several Iranian small boats.
Trump’s statement on Truth Social came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury, launched on February 28, had concluded as its objectives have been achieved.
"Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What @POTUS would prefer is a deal... that is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen," Rubio told a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.
On Project Freedom, Rubio said the goal was to rescue almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries who were trapped inside the Persian Gulf and left for dead by the Iranian regime.
"This is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation, and what that means is very simple: there’s no shooting unless we're shot at first. We’re not attacking them, but if they're attacking us or they’re attacking a ship, you need to respond to that," Rubio said.
