MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Friday shared a cryptic post along with Balasaheb Thackeray’s audio quote on Twitter, just a short while after the Election Commission passed its order of the Eknath Shinde faction getting the official name of the Shiv Sena and the bow-arrow symbol. Balasaheb Thackeray’s audio in the video said, “Money comes and goes. But when a person loses his reputation, it cannot come back, it cannot be bought, not even in the black market. Hence, one must take care of their reputation and enhance it.”
Raj Thackeray captioned the post in Marathi: “How accurate was the idea of ‘Shiv Sena’ given by Balasaheb, it was once again known today…” – apparently welcoming of the EC’s order.
Also read: Uddhav Thackeray vs Eknath Shinde: A timeline of battle for ‘real’ Shiv Sena
The election commission’s 78-page order came amid an ongoing tussle between the Shinde faction and the Uddhav Thackeray faction over the party name and symbol rights.
While the issue was pending with the EC, the bow and arrow symbol was frozen temporarily. During the bypoll, the Shinde faction was allotted two swords and a shield symbol, and the Uddhav faction was allotted a flaming torch symbol.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction has hit out at the election commission. Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that they will “challenge the decision in the court of law and public”.
“ECI has lost all credibility. The decision shows the impact of ‘Khoke’ (boxes),” Raut said in an apparent reference to allegations of Shinde faction MLAs taking money to switch sides. He added, “We don’t need to worry. Public is with us. We will go with a new symbol,” reported news agency ANI.