Mumbai:

As the battle for the Shiv Sena claim unfolds in the Supreme Court, the Shinde camp is on the hunt for a new Shivsena Bhavan – a party office for the splinter faction. Many claim that the Rebel faction is trying to set up a parallel Sena headquarters. Apart from Shivsena Bhavan, they are also planning to open new shakhas or local party offices everywhere, sources said.

No location has yet been set for the new Bhavan but they are looking for a place near the current Shivsena Bhavan at Dadar in Mumbai, sources said.

Littering speculation from a parallel Sena Bhavan, newly enthroned Maharashtra minister Uday Samant branded it a misconception.

“There is a misconception that a parallel Shivsena Bhavan is going on in Dadar. However, we are trying to find a central office so that CM can meet ordinary people. We respect Shivsena Bhavan and it will remain so,” a- he declared.

मुंबई दादर येथे प्रति शिवसेना भवन मा. एकनाथजी शिंदे करत आहेत हा पसरव पसरव .. मुख्यमंत्री महोदयांना सर्वसामान्य जनतेला भेटता याव ह्यासाठी मध्यवर्ती कार्यालय आमचाठी्रयत्न आहे आहे

— Uday Samant (@samant_uday) August 12, 2022

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has called his faction the “true Shiv Sena” and a follower of Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology while accusing the group led by Uddhav Thackeray of straying from the party founder’s ideals, Bal Thackeray.

Earlier this week Mr Shinde, who formed a new government in the state by teaming up with the BJP, expanded his cabinet after growing criticism of a “two-man government”. The Thackeray faction claimed that administering the ministerial oath to rebel MPs, whose disqualification pleas are pending in the Supreme Court, amounted to “a murder of democracy and the Constitution”.

Mr Shinde expanded his ministry by two members on Tuesday, 41 days after he was sworn in as chief minister by inducting 18 ministers, nine each from his rebel group Shiv Sena and the BJP.

The Thackeray faction is also fighting to retain its electoral symbol, as the stakes in Shinde’s camp also claim. The Electoral Commission (EC) has reportedly given the Uddhav Thackeray faction an additional 15 days to submit documents in support of its claim to the party’s election symbol – a “bow and arrow”.

Mr Shinde and 39 other Sena lawmakers had rebelled against the party leadership in June this year, leading to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray. The MVA was made up of the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party. The Shinde faction said Mr Thackeray had

Eknath Shinde was sworn in as chief minister on June 30 along with BJP leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.