Maharashtra assembly elections: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday alleged that the personal assets of MLAs and leaders, who defected to the rival Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena for power, have grown between 50 per cent to 100 per cent in the past five years. Taking to X, Chaturvedi highlighted asset declarations made by seven leaders of Maha Yuti government in 2019 and 2024, and claimed that the figures "clearly show" that the move to break Shiv Sena was only for "their interests and against Maharashtra and its people."

As per the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, the leaders whose assets saw massive gains included Shinde Sena leaders, Pratap Sarnaik, Tanaji Sawant and Deepak Kesarkar, and Independent MLA  Geeta Jain. Apart from that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Parag Shah and Rahul Narwekar and Nationalist Congress Party's Dhananjay Munde are also on Chaturvedi's list. 

#WATCH | Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi says, "...Be it Geeta Jain, Deepak Kesarkar, Tanaji Sawant...The assets of the 40 people who went there show an increase between 50%-100% from 2019 to 2024. I have only highlighted the asset declaration by them in 2019 vs 2024.… pic.twitter.com/dLx5t5hWbQ

— ANI (@ANI) November 1, 2024

"Geeta Jain Independent MLA (part of the Gaddar Gang)--Assets declared in 2019: 70.44 crore. Assets declared in 2024: 392.30 crore; Parag Shah BJP--Assets declared in 2019: 500.62 crore. Assets declared in 2024: 3383.06 crore; Rahul Narwekar BJP-- Assets declared in 2019: 38.09 crore. Assets declared in 2024: 129.81 crore; Pratap Sarnaik, part of Gaddar Gang-- Assets declared in 2019: 143.97 crore. Assets declared in 2024: 333.32 crore; Tanaji Sawant, part of Gaddar Gang-- Assets declared in 2019: 194.5 crore. Assets declared in 2024: 218.1 crore; Deepak Kesarkar, part of Gaddar Gang-- Assets declared in 2019: 59.70 crore. Assets declared in 2024: 98.50 crore; Meanwhile, Dhananjay Munde ji has seen an 81.3 per cent rise in assets, plus added 2 more kids as dependents," she tweeted. 

Later, talking to news agency ANI, the Rajya Sabha MP said, "Be it Geeta Jain, Deepak Kesarkar, Tanaji Sawant...The assets of the 40 people who went there show an increase between 50 per cent to 100 per cent from 2019 to 2024. I have only highlighted the asset declaration by them in 2019 vs 2024. It clearly shows that their decision was only for their interests and against Maharashtra and its people..."

Shiv Sena witnessed a verticle split after Eknath Shinde launched a rebellion against then-party chief Uddhav Thackeray on 20 June 2022 and walked out with a total of 40 legislators (including himself). Later, Shinde, with the help of the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP formed the Maha Yuti government in Maharashtra and became the Chief Minister.