Eknath Shinde camp MLA removed as Hingoli district unit president

Aurangabad, July 11: The Shiv Sena has removed MLA Santosh Bangar, who had joined the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, from the post of Hingoli district unit president.

The Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' on Monday announced Bangar's removal from the post and said the action was initiated for anti-party activities, news agency PTI reported.

The action was taken on the order of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, the Marathi publication said.
Bangar had joined the Shinde camp some hours before the floor test of the latter's government on July 4.

During the earlier days of revolt by Shinde and some other party MLAs last month, Bangar, who won the 2019 state Assembly election from Kalamnuri in Hingoli district, had been seen weeping and asking the rebels to return.

One video had shown Bangar sobbing and saying the environment in the state had turned bad and that all MLAs supporting Shinde must return to the party-fold as Thackeray would forgive them.
Last month, a majority of the Sena MLAs, led by Shinde, rebelled against the party leadership, asking it to snap ties with the NCP and the Congress.

The revolt in the party led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.
On June 30, Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister, while BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the deputy CM.

The Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly, whose current strength is 287 due to the death of a Sena legislator.

During the trust vote last week, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it.