In another setback for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, the party’s senior union leader and former BEST Kamgar Sena chief Suhas Samant on Wednesday joined the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
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Samant, who was also deputy leader in the Sena UBT, joined the Shinde Sena at an event held at Suryavanshi Hall in Dadar in the presence of the Deputy Chief Minister and several senior leaders.
Shinde welcomed his joining the party and said Samant’s long association with the BEST project will help strengthen the organisation. Samant was appointed deputy leader of the Shinde-led Sena.
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Samant had resigned from the post in August after the Sena (UBT)-MNS committee lost all 21 seats in the Employees Best Cooperative Credit Society Limited elections, which were won by a committee backed by BJP legislators Prasad Lad and Praveen Dharkar. “A career of 51 years has been reduced to nothing in an instant,” Samant said at the joining ceremony.
He added that it was a mistake to contest the elections jointly with the Thackeray brothers Uddhav and Raj. “If we had won, credit would have been given to both of them; since we lost, I would have been blamed,” he said.
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Samant also spoke of his personal loss after his son died shortly after his resignation. “They could have waited a month before replacing me,” he said. “My loyalty of 51 years was forgotten overnight.”
Explaining his move, Samant said his decision was motivated by concern for the transport authority and its workers.
“If I have to bail out BEST and its employees, and ensure pensions and job security, I will have no option but to go to Eknath Shinde. If BEST collapses, its employees will suffer the same fate as mill workers in Mumbai,” he said.
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Welcoming Samant, Shinde said the government would focus on reviving the lost BEST project. “We will bring the best out of the losses and ensure the well-being of its employees,” he said.
The BEST Kamgar Sena, once among the most powerful trade unions in Mumbai, has been closely associated with the rise of the Shiv Sena in the city’s politics and its working-class base. After a split in the party in 2022, the union remained with Uddhav Thackeray, who later appointed Sachin Ahir as its new president after Samant’s exit.
Samant’s departure adds to the growing list of senior leaders and former corporators who have crossed over into Shinde’s camp in the last two years. Political observers say the move could help Shinde’s Sena strengthen its hold among civil servants and transport workers, an important voter base in Mumbai.
(tags for translation) Shiv Sena (UBT)
