Samata Party delegation meets Maha CM Eknath Shinde to seek help in getting back 'flaming torch' symbol from Uddhav Thackeray faction

A delegation of Samata Party from Bihar met Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and sought his help in getting back its mashaal flaming torch election symbol that has been allotted to the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav ThackerayThe delegation led by the party president Uday Mandal met Shinde at the latters office in Thane on Tuesday eveningThis information was shared by Shindes citybased office through a releaseThe meeting comes days after the Election Commission EC recognised the Shindeled faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotted the bow and arrow symbol to it It also ruled that the flaming torch symbol it had allotted to the Uddhav Thackerayled Sena group last year will remain with it till the conclusion of the Kasba Peth and Chinchwad Assembly bypolls in Pune district scheduled on February 26The delegation told Shinde that Samata Party was an old political outfit from Bihar and mashaal flaming torch was its election symbol However after the change in power in Maharashtra the EC allotted it to the Shiv Sena faction led by Thackeray the release saidThe delegation also told Shinde that they would challenge the ECs decision in the Supreme Court to get back their symbol it addedAlso Read In rare move Uddhav Thackeray faction urges SC to decide disqualification proceedings against Maha CM othersThe delegation sought CM Shindes help in getting back the Samata Partys election symbol the way his faction got the bow and arrow symbolThe Samata Party formed in 1994 by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the late leader George Fernandes had earlier both complained to the EC against the allotment of the symbol of Thackerays party in October last year and moved the Delhi High Court against it but the high court had dismissed the case claiming it had no right over deciding party symbolsThe Samata Party had been derecognised by the EC in 2004While allotting the flaming torch symbol to the Thackeray faction last year the EC had said the symbol was not in the list of free symbols and was an erstwhile reserved symbol of the now derecognised Samata Party but it has decided to allot the same on a request to declare it a free symbolMeanwhile Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader and Thane MP Rajan Vichare has submitted a letter to city Police Commissioner Jai Jeet Singh urging him to thwart any attempts by the Shinde group to usurp the Shiv Sena shakhas local party offices in the citySince the birth of Shiv Sena 56 years back several Shakas have been set up in the city The ownership of some of them are with the Sena UBT and some are private premises and in the custody of the party The Shinde group grabbed some of the shakhas through force and some others are being grabbed using muscle power he allegedIn order to avoid a law and order situation the police machinery should not encourage the Shinde group and give it a warning If any law and order situation arises it will be the sole responsibility of the Shinde group and the police Vichare added in the letterOn Tuesday Maharashtra cabinet minister Deepak Kesarkar who is the spokesperson of the Shinde faction said his group was not interested in taking over the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai or any other property linked to the rival camp headed by ThackerayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever