India, April 29 -- Former Mumbai mayor Datta Dalvi, who had been roundly abusing Eknath Shinde till some time ago, quit the Shiv Sena (UBT) and joined the Shiv Sena in the deputy CM's presence on Monday. A large number of Shiv Sena (UBT) functionaries from the eastern suburbs also joined along with him. Dalvi was considered close to Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut.

A year ago, Dalvi had declared that had Shinde's mentor Anand Dighe been alive, he would have flogged him. He has also accused Shinde of corruption and emptying the BMC coffers. Dalvi's car was vandalised and he was also arrested by the police for abusing Shinde.

Dalvi was under pressure to quit the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena when Narayan Rane jumped ship to the Congress, but h...