Chhagan Bhujbal, currently the state PWD minister, was a heavyweight Shiv Sena leader, when he switched sides to the Congress in the early 1990s.
Even though there has been a hue and cry over the recent defections of Shiv Sena MP Anand Paranjpye and BJP MLC Dhananjay Munde, recent history shows that this trend has not been new to the state politics and it is the Shiv Sena, which has seen maximum number of high-profile desertions.
Chhagan Bhujbal, currently the state PWD minister, was a heavyweight Shiv Sena leader, when he switched sides to the Congress in the early 1990s.
With Shiv sainiks baying for his blood for this breach of trust, Bhujbal was forced to go underground.
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, too, was a powerful Sena leader with a mass-base in Sindhudurg district of Konkan region, when he defected to the Congress in 2005.
Rane resigned his membership of the house and got re-elected from his constituency of Malvan.
It was followed by Raj Thackeray, nephew of the Sena partriach Bal Thackeray, who had left the party to form his own political outfit.
However, Thane Lok Sabha MP Anand Paranjype's recent 'brazen' act of defying his party leadership, has shocked the political circles in the state. He is seen as one, who has no mass base in his constituency and owes his rise in politics to the good will of his late father Prakash Paranjype and the Sena's stronghold over the region.
Political observers say that the hype Paranjype got was may be due to the presence of Sharad Pawar in the party office or the timing as the 10 municipal corporation elections including the prestigious Mumbai and Thane are scheduled next month and Paranjype is Sena's lone MP in Mumbai-Thane belt.
It could also be a result of Shiv Sena lured NCP MLC Subhash Bhoir and few office-bearers from Thane district into its fold in the last few days.
The reaction from Shiv Sena to Paranjype's act was muted with party executive president Uddhav Thackeray asking Thane leaders not to make an issue out of this, as it will increase Paranjype's stature.
Paranjype is yet to resign from his Lok Sabha membership, but has started campaigning for the NCP candidates contesting the Thane municipal elections.
Top Shiv Sena leaders, who were with the party since its inception, like Ramesh Prabhoo and Satish Pradhan had also quit after Bal Thackeray handed over reins of the party to his son Uddhav in 2004.
Bhaskar Jadhav, Sena's MLA from Chiplun in Ratnagiri district was among the first to have fallen out with the Sena in the early 2000s. Navi Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik was another Shiv Sena leader to join the NCP. Former union minister in the NDA regime Balasaheb Vikhe Patil and his son Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil left the Shiv Sena to re-join the Congress.
Another Union Minister in the NDA government from Shiv Sena Subodh Mohite and its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Nirupam, Sena MLAs Nandkumar Kale from Mumbai, Vinayak Nimhan from Pune were prominent among those, who deserted the Shiv Sena in recent years.
NCP, which was formed in 1999, had also witnessed defection with leaders like Datta Meghe, Shalinitai Patil, Sadashivrao Mandlik, Javed Khan, Suresh Jain, Kushal Bopche, Shirish Kotwal, among others.
The BJP had seen its MLAs like Suresh Dhas and Prakash Solanke joining the NCP few years ago and now Gopinath Munde's brother Pandit Anna and nephew Dhananjay have also shifted to NCP.
Congress has seen its former PCC chief Govindrao Adik and former Yavatmal MP Uttamrao Patil joining NCP and yesterday its Hingoli district president Shivaji Mane also joined the NCP.
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