India, Feb. 17 -- Within just one week, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde has inducted two former MLAs and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders in Ratnagiri district - Rajan Salvi and Subhash Bane - to his party. He is also likely to get a third, Ganpat Kadam, in the next few days. Shinde's aides say he is trying to kill two birds with one stone: Deal a severe blow to Thackeray in the only district of Konkan where Sena (UBT) had a better chance of revival as well as rein in Shinde's party colleague, industries minister Uday Samant.

Among the districts in Konkan, Ratnagiri has always stood by the Thackerays even when the party was not doing well. Thackeray was banking on Ratnagiri to revive his party. Hence, the departure of three former MLAs comes ...