Swikriti Sharma joins chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena

MUMBAI: Swikriti Sharma, wife of former encounter specialist and Antilia bomb scare-murder accused Pradeep Sharma, joined chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Monday. She is likely to contest the coming assembly election from Andheri East.
Swikriti Sharma, along with hundreds of supporters of her PS Foundation, came to the Malabar Hill residence of the chief minister and joined the party in a function organised on the premises.When asked about contesting the election from Andheri East, Swikriti Sharma said, “She will obey the party chief’s direction.”
While addressing the crowd, CM Shinde took a dig at Shiv Sena UBT and said that the roads of Mumbai will be completely pothole-free and concretised in the coming year, which was supposed to have taken place 15 years ago. He said, “You know why they were not doing it and repairing the same road again and again. The amount they spent on repairing work in all these years was enough to concretise the entire city road long ago. I am a 24/7 CM, I don’t do Facebook live but come among you to discuss issues.”
Pradeep Sharma, who was arrested in the Antilia case, is out on bail. He was associated with Shinde and Shiv Sena for a long time. Sharma’s supporters stated that the PS Foundation was working in Andheri for many years and recently, during the parliament elections, it was actively involved in the campaign of MP Ravindra Waikar.
In 2014, Sharma’s NGO, PS Foundation, put up several posters in Andheri after he decided to contest the election from the Andheri East assembly constituency. He met then BJP president and home minister Amit Shah for the party ticket. But the BJP, Shiv Sena, and RPI (A) contested the election jointly, and the seat went to the Shiv Sena. Sharma tried till the last moment to get the Sena ticket from Andheri East but in vain. He had filed an election nomination as an independent candidate declaring his assets as Rs 39 crore and withdrew the nomination at the last moment.
In July 2019, Sharma resigned from the force, a year before his scheduled retirement, to try his luck in politics. The Shiv Sena denied him a ticket from the Andheri constituency but gave him a chance to contest from the party at the Nalasopara assembly constituency, but he lost.