Guwahati: Forty Maharashtra MLAs including 33 Shiv Sena and seven independent MLAs signed a letter exhorting their support to rebel Shiv Sena leader and state cabinet minister Eknath Shinde, sources said.
According to other sources, the dissident lawmakers may write to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to request a floor vote in the state Legislative Assembly, according to ANI.
The 40 MLAs led by Shinde arrived to a fancy hotel in Guwahati on Wednesday. There have been rumours that Shinde and other MLAs may join the BJP in an effort to overthrow the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government as a result of the Shiv Sena uprising.
“A total of 40 MLAs are present here. Balasaheb Thackeray’s Hindutva would be carried by us, “Shinde, who had just arrived in Guwahati, remarked.
At the Guwahati airport, BJP MP Pallab Lochan Das and BJP MLA Sushanta Borgohain welcomed the Shiv Sena MLAs.
Following the cross-voting in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections, Shinde was sleeping at a hotel in Surat, Gujarat, with Shiv Sena and independent legislators. Shinde took a flight earlier today to go Guwahati.
A video showing every rebel MLA gathered in a Surat hotel before departing for Guwahati was made public. All of the MLAs may be seen signing documents in another video.
A state cabinet meeting has been scheduled for today at 1 pm by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Chandrakant Patil, the leader of the Maharashtra BJP, asserted that his party would “certainly entertain” a suggestion from Shinde to create a different government.
In the midst of the controversy, Shinde tweeted a subtle jab at the Shiv Sena for partnering with Congress and NCP to create the state’s government: “We are devoted Shiv Sainiks who support Balasaheb. We learned Hindutva from Balasaheb. Regarding the ideas of Balasaheb and the teachings of Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Saheb, we have never cheated and never will.”
Additionally, Shinde removed the term “Shiv Sena” from his Twitter bio. After the Shiv Sena broke away from the BJP in 2014, he was appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He has played a key role in expanding the organisation in the Thane region. According to the ANI report, Shinde was chosen as a cabinet minister in the MVA government.
As a result of the resignations of Eknath Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil asserted that the state government technically has a “minority” status.
He stated that neither the BJP nor Shinde had made any proposals about the formation of a government and that the BJP was currently in a “wait and watch” mode.
“For the Rajya Sabha and MLC elections, BJP received support from independents and small political parties. Eknath Shinde and 35 MLAs have left, according to our information. This indicates that while the state government is theoretically in the minority, it will take some time before it actually becomes such ” he said.