Shishir Shinde, Sena leader who dug up Wankhede pitch in 1991, quits Uddhav-led party

Former MLA Shishir Shinde on Saturday resigned from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

He was given no responsibility despite being appointed as Shiv Sena (UBT) deputy leader a year ago, he said in a letter to party president Thackeray.

Meeting Thackeray had become “impossible” in the last six months, he added. A firebrand Shiv Sena worker, Shinde rose to fame when he, along with some other party activists, dug up the pitch of the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai in 1991 to prevent an India-Pakistan match from taking place.

He later quit the Shiv Sena to join the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by Raj Thackeray, and was elected as MLA from suburban Bhandup in 2009.

But in 2018, he returned to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.