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MUMBAI Former Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray, who had
announced that he would be forming a new party, has
received a boost with around 2,500 Shiv Sainiks led
by a corporator quitting the Sena and joining him.
The Sainiks, led by two-term corporator Dilip Lande,
on Sunday dashed off letters to Sena executive president
Uddhav Thackeray stating they were quitting the party.
After Raj announced his rebellion on Novemmber 27 against
the Sena leaders, whom he termed as 'clerks' running
the party, Lande was among the first to publicly side
with him.
"We are relieved after quitting the Sena. We will
follow Raj Thackeray and do whatever he says,"
Lande said, adding that he expects 3,500 more Sena workers
from Kurla area to quit the party and join Raj. Kurla
was a Sena stronghold during the 1990s, but went to
the Congress in the last two assembly elections.
Meanwhile, former vibhag pramukh of south-central Mumbai,
Bunty Mashelkar, a supporter of Raj, told reporters
here on Monday that `several Sainiks from south-central
Mumbai would soon quit the Sena and join Raj's new party'.
"The process of Sainiks resigning from the party
has begun and nobody can stop it now," he said.
Earlier, when Raj, who begins his statewide tour later
this month, announced his decision on December 18 to
quit Sena and form a new party, he had said he did not
want Sena MLAs, MPs and corporators to break away and
join him.
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