Maha turmoil: CM Thackeray back to family home, more Sena MLAs join rebel camp | Top points

Maharashtra political crisis: Another chartered flight with four MLAs from Maharashtra arrived in Guwahati late in the night where Eknath Shinde and other rebel Shiv Sena legislators are camping.

Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday left his official residence Varsha and moved back to family home Matoshree in suburban Bandra hours after he broke his silence on the latest political crisis following a rebellion by disgruntled Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and offered to resign from the top post.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray leaves for Matoshree, his personal residence in Bandra from Varsha, the Chief Minister's official residence. (HT PHOTO)

Around the same time, reports emerged that another chartered flight with four MLAs from Maharashtra arrived in Guwahati where they joined Shinde and other rebel Shiv Sena legislators who are camping in the city after leaving Surat earlier in the day.

According to latest reports, two more Sena MLAs have left for Surat. Shinde has claimed support of a majority of Sena MLAs, while tweeting against the “unnatural alliance” that the Thackeray-led party has forged to stay in power.

The Sena leads a coalition government in Maharashtra with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.

Shiv Sena leaders Neelam Gorhe and Chandrakant Khaire were present at 'Varsha' when Thackeray left the official residence amid loud chants from party workers who showered petals on the CM. His family members, including his wife Rashmi and sons – Aaditya and Tejas – also left after him around 9.50 pm. Earlier, bags containing his personal belongings were seen being loaded in cars.

Thackeray, who also heads the Shiv Sena, had moved to 'Varsha' after becoming the chief minister in November 2019.

Shiv Sena's chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said Thackeray will not resign following the rebellion by a section of party MLAs, and maintained the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will prove its majority in the Assembly if required.

“Uddhav Thackeray is Maharashtra chief minister and he will remain so,” Raut said. His statement came amid reports that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had discussed the option of handing the CM's job to Shinde to douse the rebellion.

The four MLAs, the latest to join their colleagues in Assam are Chandrakant Patil, Yogesh Kadam, Manjula Gavit and Gulabrao Patil. According to ANI inputs, the two other MLAs who left for Gujarat are Sada Sarvankar and Mangesh Kudalkar.

Meanwhile, one of the MLAs, Nitin Deshmukh, who had arrived in the morning, left Guwahati a few hours later for Nagpur in a chartered flight. Deshmukh later said he was with Shiv Sena chief Thackeray and that he had been harassed in Gujarat when he opposed the rebellion.

(With inputs from bureau)