Maharashtra's former 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. At the event, Shinde said 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.

Sawant was an MLC of then united Shiv Sena and was a cabinet minister for public health from 2014 to 2018 in the Devendra Fadanvis-led government. He was dropped from the cabinet and denied a ticket for legislative council election by Uddhav Thackeray in 2018. 

Just two days back, Bhushan Desai, the son of Uddhav Thackeray’s trusted aide and former industries minister Subhash Desai, joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction. Desai joined the Shinde faction in the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and several other Shiv Sena leaders.

Desai joined the Shinde faction just days ahead of the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. His switching to the Shinde camp was seen as a major development in the political circles of Maharashtra. 

Subhash has been a close confidant of former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray for over five decades and served as the Minister of Industries and Mines during the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.

"I have spoken to my father Subhash Desai. I have joined the Shinde camp because I like their working pattern," Bhushan said after officially joining the CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

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