Maharashtra political crisis: Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde reach Guwahati, claim support of 40 MLAs
More than a dozen MLAs, led by Eknath Shinde, rebelling against Shiv Sena, reached Guwahati airport a little while ago. According to news reports, about 15 MLAs kept in a hotel in Surat, Gujarat were taken to Assam by a special flight that reached Guwahati early on Wednesday.
In a conversation with ANI at the Guwahati airport, Eknath Shinde claimed the support of 40 MLAs and said that they would take forward Balasaheb Thackeray’s Hindutva policy. At present there is a BJP government in Assam. It is believed that the top leaders of the Assam BJP and the state government are making arrangements for the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs to stay in Guwahati.
Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde had kept some MLAs in BJP-ruled Gujarat after rebelling against the party. These MLAs have jeopardized the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Maharashtra by rebelling against Shiv Sena. Shinde has been in Surat with some other party MLAs since Monday night.
With the turn of events, the Shiv Sena has sacked Eknath Shinde from the party’s legislative group leader in the Maharashtra Assembly. A crucial cabinet meeting will be held on Wednesday amid a political crisis within the MVA government. Earlier, Eknath Shinde and more than 15 other MLAs holed up at a resort in Surat, Gujarat and could not be contacted.
On the other hand, a senior Shiv Sena leader has claimed that party’s rebel leader Eknath Shinde on Monday urged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to re-align with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The leader said that Thackeray had sent his confidant Milind Narvekar and Shinde’s aide Ravindra Phatak to Surat to talk to the rebel leader.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had claimed that 14 to 15 MLAs, including some ministers, are with Eknath Shinde in Surat, Gujarat. However, another party leader has claimed that this number could be 23. At the same time, ANI claims that there are 33 MLAs and 7 independents with Shinde.
The Shiv Sena has issued a warning to all the rebel MLAs against not toeing the party line. “The MLAs will have to follow whip issues by the party’s chief whip else they will lose membership of the assembly,” Sena MP Sanjay Raut said. Meanwhile, Congress, the third partner in the Aghadi government, has ruled out any threat to the government.
On the other hand, hundreds of Shiv Sena workers gathered outside the Shiv Sena headquarters in Mumbai to express solidarity with party President Uddhav Thackeray battling the rebellion by Sena minister Eknath Shinde.