Uddhav Thackeray-led party is real Shiv Sena: NCP
Mumbai, Oct 3: The Uddhav Thackeray group is the "real" Shiv Sena though the decision is pending with the Election Commission and two rallies are being organised on Dussehra day by rival factions, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said on Monday.
The Sharad Pawar-led party is of the view that the real Shiv Sena carries the ideas of the party founder the late Bal Thackeray, which is Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, said party spokesperson Mahesh Tapase.
"Two Dussehra rallies will be held this year. One is of tradition, loyalty, self-respect and ideas of Balasaheb (Thackeray) which means the one led by Uddhav Thackeray. Even though the decision on which is the real Shiv Sena is pending with the Election Commission, the real Shiv Sena is the one that has the ideas of Balasaheb (Thackeray) which means it is the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena," he said in a video statement.
In a setback for Thackeray, the Supreme Court last week allowed the EC to go ahead with hearing the Eknath Shinde group's plea seeking recognition as the real' Shiv Sena and allocation of the party's bow-and-arrow poll symbol to it.
The Thackeray-led faction is scheduled to hold a rally at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, while the group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has booked the MMRDA grounds at the Bandra Kurla Complex for the October 5 congregation.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar and top leaders of the party have been backing the Thackeray-led faction since the split in Shiv Sena.
The Thackeray-led Sena is one of the three members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The MVA government collapsed in June this year following the rebellion by 39 MLAs of Shiv Sena led by Shinde.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
