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Maha power game plays out in Assam, more rebels join Eknath Shinde
Earlier, the Shinde camp moved to Assam, checking into a hotel at the state capital early in the morning.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance has benefited only the other constituents while the Shiv Sena has been systematically cheated, Eknath Shinde, the leader of the rebel faction alleged after reaching Guwahati on Wednesday as he barrelled towards collecting the MLAs needed to split the party.
Shinde said the alliance has now weakened the party in a way that it is “essential to get out of the unnatural front for the survival of the party and Shiv Sainiks”, posting tweets immediately after Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray broke his silence in the evening.
Earlier, the Shinde camp moved to Assam, checking into a hotel at the state capital early in the morning.
“Forty Shiv Sena MLAs are present with me in Guwahati and all of us will take Balasaheb Thackeray’s Hindutva and legacy forward. I don’t want to comment on others or other issues at present,” Shinde told journalists soon after landing.
Though the Sena leader claimed he had 40 party MLAs with him -- three more than the magic number of 37 needed to split the party without attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law -- a purported resolution document released by the camp suggested different numbers. There were a total of 34 signatories, including two from the Prahar Janshakti Party (PJP) and two independent legislators, effectively meaning the number of Sena MLAs was 30.
From among these, one MLA -- Nitin Deshmukh -- later returned to Mumbai, leaving the breakaway faction, and ostensibly bringing its tally down to 29. But by late evening, two more Shiv Sena MLAs arrived, along with two other independent legislators, taking the Guwahati camp’s strength to 37, of which 31 were Shiv Sena members.
Shinde, therefore, needed six more Shiv Sena legislators to hit the 37-mark, and insiders from the rebel group insisted that these were on their way.
The resolution document showed the signatories had reaffirmed Shinde as their leader, and the grouping decided that the party leadership’s decision to enter the MVA alliance was “ideologically opposite” to its own, and the administration in power was now “corrupt government”.
The letter alleged “enormous discontent” amongst the cadres of the Shiv Sena for forming a government with the Nationalist Congress Party, a regional arch-rival that had been ideologically opposed to the Sena.
In the morning at Guwahati, Shinde and other Sena and independent MLAs were welcomed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Assam, Pallab Lochan Das, and party legislator Sushanta Borgohain when they landed at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport around 7am.
The rebel MLAs were earlier at a five-star hotel in Surat after leaving Maharashtra on Monday night and plunging the ruling government into an existential crisis. Both Gujarat and Assam are BJP-ruled states.
“I am not aware of any revolt. I came to meet two to three of my Sena MLA friends at the airport. They called me up saying they are coming to Assam and wanted to meet me. Hence, I came to the airport to receive my friends. They have left for their hotel and I am going back home,” Borgohain told journalists after receiving the MLAs.
On their arrival, Shinde and the other legislators were taken in three air-conditioned buses to a five-star-hotel in the city.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the hotel minutes ahead of the Maharashtra legislators reaching there. Sarma, however, did not meet the Sena legislators.
A large number of security personnel have been posted outside the hotel to prevent the media from entering the premises. Several BJP MLAs and leaders from Assam arrived at the venue to attend to Shinde and his associates.
“This is a very unfortunate chapter in the politics of Assam. Our state is reeling under floods at present and instead of focussing on that, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is busy in attending to Maharashtra MLAs in Guwahati. We condemn this development,” Congress’s leader of opposition in Assam assembly, Debabrata Saikia, said.
Sarma, who visited flood-affected areas in Nagaon district in central Assam on Wednesday, said he had no role behind Sena MLAs’ arrival in Guwahati.
“The state is reeling under floods and needs more business at this moment. So, it’s a good thing that people are coming and staying in hotels. Should we not welcome Goddess Lakshmi, if she comes? I am not involved in the matter (of Shinde and other MLAs) and am busy inspecting flood-affected areas,” he added.
