Trouble continues to mount for Uddhav Thackeray as rebel camp is set to usher in another MLA. “We will take forward Bala saheb’s Hindutva,” said Eknath Shinde, the rebel Shiv Sena leader, as he reached Guwahati airport on Wednesday. He was accompanied by 40 other MLAs. As per the latest reports, the MLAs have checked in in Raddison Blu hotel. They were received at the airport by Assam BJP MP Pallab Lochan Das.
Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday afternoon deputed two leaders — Milind Narvekar and Ravindra Phatak — to drive to Surat and have a one-on-one meeting with Shinde. After almost one-and-a-half hours of close-door meeting, Milind left for Mumbai. Before leaving his statement, “Eknath Shinde had a telephonic conversation with Uddhav Thackeray.”
According to an IANS report, Shinde was unaffected even after the meeting with Navrekar and Phatak, on the contrary he put some tough questions to them.
“Even when I am still an MLA and a minister in the cabinet, how can the Chief Minister remove me as legislative party leader?” Eknath Shinde asked ministers sent by Thackeray.
Eknath Shinde said that he also conveyed to Thackeray that he should mind his business and Eknath will mind his own, emphaising that he has numbers with him.
Without naming Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, Shinde took to Twitter, his only comment so far since the crisis broke on Tuesday morning. In the tweet, he said, “cheat for power” abandon the teachings of party founder late Bal Thackeray. “We are staunch Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb who gave us lessons on Hindutva. We will never cheat for power and will never abandon the teachings of Balasaheb and Anand Dighe for power,” Shinde tweeted in Marathi.
आम्ही बाळासाहेबांचे कट्टर शिवसैनिक आहोत… बाळासाहेबांनी आम्हाला हिंदुत्वाची शिकवण दिली आहे.. बाळासाहेबांचे विचार आणि धर्मवीर आनंद दिघे साहेबांची शिकवण यांच्याबाबत आम्ही सत्तेसाठी कधीही प्रतारणा केली नाही आणि करणार नाही
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 21, 2022
Meanwhile, Sena MP Sanjay Raut said 14 to 15 party MLAs are with Shinde in Surat in BJP-ruled Gujarat. He also alleged that two of them, including Nitin Deshmukh, have been beaten up and he has suffered a heart attack.
As per the reports coming in from Surat, the number of dissident MLAs is increasing and by the evening two more MLAs including a female one has reached the hotel. Earlier, only 30 rooms were booked in the hotel, now 20 more have been booked.
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