Soon after almost a day-long intense political drama in Gujarat, Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde has left the Le Meridien Hotel in Surat, Gujarat and has reached Guwahati, Assam along with around 30 other rebel Shiv Sena MLAs via air.
Surat on Tuesday became an epicenter for Maharashtra’s political crisis after SS MLA Eknath Shinde along with other rebel MLAs came and stayed for more than 24 hours in a hotel in the city. With this, there were unforeseen political dilemmas for Uddhav Thackrey-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
In the recent development, all these MLAs were seen leaving for the airport in a luxury bus from their Surat hotel early on Wednesday. According to the sources, these MLAs are being airlifted to Assam, which is another BJP-ruled state, due to some undisclosed reasons.
The one of the probable reasons, as mentioned by a senior BJP leader, is the proximity between Mumbai to Surat and hence to avoid confrontations with Sena leaders and any backlash from Sena workers, the rebel MLAs were shifted to Guwahati, Assam.
Earlier in the day, Sena leaders Milind Navrekar and Ravindra Phatak, in a failed attempt, had held talks with the rebel MLAs at Surat.
Reportedly, there are around seven more MLAs waiting in Guwahati, Assam to join Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs.
This high-voltage political upsurge of Maharashtra began soon after the State Legislative Council elections, which witnessed the BJP getting the fifth seat despite having insufficient number of MLAs in the assembly. This win pointed out some probable cross-voting from MVA.
After the results of the Council polls, Eknath Shinde went incommunicado and it was later learned that he, along with some other SS rebel MLAs were camping in the Le Meridien Hotel in Surat, Gujarat.
