Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Sachin Ahir, who got elected to the post of Maharashtra legislative council's deputy chairman as the ruling Mahayuti candidate, on Thursday brushed aside speculation over his future political role, saying, "let me play the innings first."
He was responding to Shiv Sena head and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's comments that, like cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, Ahir would play a "major innings". Shinde had made the remark after Ahir filed his nomination for the deputy chairperson's post on Tuesday.
"I think I am alone enough and let me play the innings first. Let me have a good score first, then we will talk about bringing in more players," Ahir told reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises.
"The people of Worli, including the Shiv Sena workers, are with me. They are, after all, my workers," he asserted.
Ahir, considered a trusted aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, on Tuesday sprang a surprise after he filed his nomination for the election to the post of deputy chairman as a candidate of the ruling Shiv Sena.
A former MLA from the Worli assembly constituency in Mumbai, Ahir had won the seat as a leader of the then undivided Nationalist Congress Party and later served as Minister of State.
He is widely seen as a potential Shiv Sena candidate against sitting MLA Aaditya Thackeray in the 2029 state assembly elections.
Aaditya Thackeray has claimed that Ahir had informed him (after filing nomination) he would not contest the 2029 assembly election from Worli, though the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader also said he would not rely on such assurances.
Ahir's virtual exit from the Sena (UBT) is being seen as a massive blow to Aaditya Thackeray, the MLA from Worli in central Mumbai.
A nephew of underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli, Ahir was a three-time MLA of the undivided NCP and also served as a minister when the Congress-NCP alliance was in power from 1999-2014.
He also served as Mumbai city chief of the undivided NCP. Ahir lost to undivided Shiv Sena candidate Sunil Shinde in the 2014 assembly polls.
Before Aaditya Thackeray contested and won his first assembly polls in 2019, Ahir joined the undivided Shiv Sena. Since then, Ahir became Aaditya's close aide and was entrusted with several organisational responsibilities, including handling the trade union controlled by the party.
In 2022, Ahir was elected as a member of the legislative council, and he is due to retire in 2028.
