Maharashtra: BJP leader Rajan Teli from Sindhudurg joins Sena (UBT)

Mumbai, Oct 18 (PTI) Rajan Teli, a BJP leader from Maharashtra's coastal Sindhudurg district, has resigned from the party's primary membership and joined the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).

He was the BJP in-charge of Sawantwadi assembly segment.

Teli is likely to contest against Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, part of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.

Teli claimed he had worked hard for the BJP in the past 10 years but was facing troubles, particularly after Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha MP and former Union minister Narayan Rane and his family joined the party.

Teli was one of the leaders from undivided Shiv Sena who had quit the party along with Narayan Rane.

Citing reports about the likely switch of Rane's son Nilesh to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena to contest in the November 20 assembly polls, Teli said he was opposed to giving Lok Sabha and assembly tickets to one family.

Rane's younger son Nitesh is MLA from Kankavali in Sindhudurg district and is likely to be renominated, while reports say Nilesh will be fielded from a seat currently held by the Shiv Sena.

The state's Konkan belt accounts for 75 of the 288 assembly seats, including 36 in Mumbai. PTI