Former Maharashtra Health Minister Deepak Sawant Joins CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena: Deepak Sawant was a Shiv Sena member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

Former state health minister Deepak Sawant from the Uddhav Thackeray faction on Wednesday joined Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, reported news agency ANI. During an official press conference, Shinde gave the veteran leader a warm welcome. 

From 2014 to 2018, Sawant served as cabinet minister for public health under the government of Devendra Fadanvis. He was an MLC for the then-united Shiv Sena.

In 2018, Uddhav Thackeray removed him from the cabinet and denied him a seat on the legislative council.

Sawant is the second well-known leader this week to join the party. The son of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Subhash Desai, Bhushan Desai, joined the Eknath Shinde faction on Monday. Veteran party leader Subhash Desai was thought to be close to the Thackeray family. He was also a trustee of Prabodhan Prakashan, which owns the party's mouthpiece Saamana.

Shinde said at the event on Wednesday that Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray had an influence on Deepak Sawant. Shinde also praised Sawant for working hard to reduce malnutrition in tribal areas of Maharashtra and for using telemedicine to get people in remote areas to get medical care.

The Election Commission of India had frozen the Shiv Sena's bow and arrow symbol and given the Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde faction the "Two Swords and Shield" and Uddhav Thackeray faction the "flaming torch" (Mashaal) election symbol for the by-election in the Andheri East assembly constituency in November of last year.

Uddhav Thackeray was forced to resign as Chief Minister of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government as a result of a Shiv Sena split last year. Shinde later collaborated with the BJP to form the state government.