The Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday withdrew its application submitted to the Mumbai civic body seeking permission for a rally on Dussehra at the iconic Shivaji Park ground here.
The decision, which avoided fresh wrangling between the Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde over the venue, was taken so as not to cause a dispute during “Hindu festivals”, Shinde faction MLA Sada Sarvankar said in his letter to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The Shiv Sena (UBT) led by former chief minister Thackeray has already submitted an application to the BMC seeking permission to hold its Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, a civic official said.
Dussehra will be celebrated on October 24.
The BMC had received applications on August 1 from Sarvankar and another from the Shiv Sena (UBT) on August 7 for permission for rally, the official told PTI.
But on Tuesday, Sarvankar announced the decision to withdraw the application, and said the Shinde-led Sena will hold its rally somewhere else in the city.
“This year too Shiv Sena’s Dussehra festival should be celebrated with enthusiasm. To avoid differences among each other during Hindu festivals, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Honourable Eknath Shinde Saheb took a conciliatory stance by announcing that the Dussehra rally will be held elsewhere,” the MLA from Mahim (assembly constituency in which the ground is located) wrote on X.
A civic official said the BMC on Tuesday afternoon received a letter from Sarvankar, withdrawing the application made by him.
It was being withdrawn as per the “directive” and “suggestion” of chief minister Shinde for avoiding any differences among each other during a Hindu festival, and the Hindu community and “Maharashtra lovers” can enjoy the festival with joy, Sarvankar’s letter to the BMC’s G-North ward office said.
Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray started the tradition of holding his party’s Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park in the late 1960s, and it continued year after year.
But last year, after the Shiv Sena split, both the rival camps sought to hold their respective rallies at Shivaji Park, and the BMC denied permission to both citing law and order concerns.
The matter then landed in the Bombay High Court which granted permission to the Thackeray-led Sena faction to hold its rally at Shivaji Park. The Shinde camp held its rally at the MMRDA ground on the same day.
When Bal Thackeray died in 2012, he was cremated at Shivaji Park. Sena workers call the ground ‘Shiva-tirtha,’ or a holy place, which now also houses the late leader’s memorial.
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