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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
