Before the BMC elections, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena has faced a significant setback. Tejaswi Ghosalkar, the daughter-in-law of Vinod Ghosalkar, who maintains friendly ties with the Thackeray family, has resigned from Shiv Sena UBT. It is reported that she resigned due to dissatisfaction with the local leadership. Her father-in-law, Vinod Ghosalkar, is a prominent face of Shiv Sena UBT in North Mumbai and has personal relationships with the Thackeray family. Tejaswi is the wife of the late Shiv Sena (UBT) councilor Abhishek Ghosalkar, who was shot dead by businessman Maurice Noronha during a Facebook livestream in February 2024 due to a rivalry.
In her resignation, Tejaswi expressed displeasure with the local leadership. She was responsible for the women's wing in the Dahisar assembly of Shiv Sena UBT. She sent her resignation via WhatsApp to the block in-charge. Sources say she may join the BJP or the Shiv Sena Shinde faction. As the BMC elections approach, Shiv Sena UBT faces a tough challenge in keeping its party united. Tejaswi was called to Matoshree for a discussion on this issue, and party officials tried to persuade her to withdraw her resignation.
Her discontent with the party was expressed multiple times at the forums, yet her concerns were never addressed, culminating in her resignation. Her husband, Abhishek Ghosalkar, was tragically shot at the start of 2024 in the Borivali area of Mumbai. The shooter, 47-year-old Maurice Noronha, later committed suicide. This incident thrust the Ghosalkar family into the spotlight. Vinod Ghosalkar, her father-in-law, is a former legislator of the Dahisar assembly in Mumbai. Tejaswi mentioned she would soon meet with party leader Uddhav Thackeray.
She stated, 'I have resigned from my position as the head of the Dahisar assembly area. Many office bearers in the party were harassing me. I kept messaging my party seniors about this issue, but they chose to ignore my messages. Soon after the news of my resignation became public, I was summoned by our leader Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshree bungalow. I will meet him shortly.' Matoshree is the personal residence of the Thackeray family located in Bandra. However, she refrained from commenting on her strained relations with her father-in-law Vinod Ghosalkar, who has been a staunch loyalist to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
In 2017, Tejaswi was elected as a councilor for the first time, and during the 2024 assembly elections, differences arose between her and her father-in-law Vinod over contesting from the Dahisar assembly seat. Eventually, Vinod contested from this seat and lost to Manisha Chaudhary of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Once again, their relationship soured ahead of the upcoming Mumbai municipal corporation elections, scheduled to take place after the monsoon. Tejaswi wants to contest from Ward No. 1 in Dahisar, while Vinod Ghosalkar prefers his other son, Saurabh, as the candidate. Tejaswi was being persuaded to take a new ward; she sought the intervention of party leadership but received no response, leading to her resignation.
