Guwahati: Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, landed in Guwahati early on Wednesday and has settled himself in the city’s upscale Radisson Blu hotel under strict security measures.
Along with 33 Shiv Sena and seven independent MLAs, Shinde arrived from Surat in Gujarat to Guwahati. Shinde was received by Sushanta Borgohain and Pallab Lochan Das as he landed in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state of Assam.
The abrupt change occurs amid rumours that a cabinet minister from Maharashtra will join the BJP in an effort to overthrow the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration in Maharashtra.
Having landed at the Guwahati airport, Shinde declared, “There are 40 MLAs in total present here. Balasaheb Thackeray’s Hindutva shall be carried by us.”
Sharad Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), responded to the MVA crisis by claiming that it was “an internal Sena matter.”
Pawar ruled out any collaboration with the opposition BJP and reiterated his commitment to the three-party system.
In order to resolve the problem, the Congress on Tuesday sent senior politician and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath to the state as an observer of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC).
It may be mentioned that after the cross-voting incident in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections, Shiv Sena members and Shinde were lodging at a hotel in Surat. They flew in to Guwahati from there earlier today.
Shinde gave the assurance that they would not leave the party before departing for Guwahati. “We have not and will not abandon Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena,” he stated.
He declared, “We have been upholding Hindutva and would do so further.”