Adding to the growing tension in Maharashtra, rebel state minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce that Bharat Gogavale as been appointed as the party's chief whip. His post on the micro-blogging site - second since the political turmoil in the western state commenced, termed the ultimatum given by the Sena around an hour before “legally invalid”.
“Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogavale has been appointed as the chief representative of Shiv Sena legislature. The reason is that the orders issued by Sunil Prabhu regarding today's meeting of MLAs are legally invalid,” Shinde's tweet read.
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The rebel minister tweeted at 3.29pm while the ultimatum by the Sena was issued in the form of a letter signed by the party chief whip Prabhu nearly an hour before.
In the letter, the Sena said that all of its MLAs must attend the crucial and urgent meeting convened by party supremo and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at his residence ‘Varsha’ at 5pm today. It added that whoever fails to make it to the meeting will be considered to have decided to quit the party voluntarily, and the Sena will take action against them.
{{/usCountry}}In the letter, the Sena said that all of its MLAs must attend the crucial and urgent meeting convened by party supremo and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at his residence ‘Varsha’ at 5pm today. It added that whoever fails to make it to the meeting will be considered to have decided to quit the party voluntarily, and the Sena will take action against them.
{{/usCountry}}The agenda of the meeting is to keep control of the situation and setting the ground to take action against the rebel MLAs, people family with the matter told HT.
Shinde's retaliatory tweet to Sena's ultimatum comes as he told news agency ANI that as many as 46 MLAs are with him and other rebel leaders. “The number will rise in the time to come,” he was quoted as saying.
Shinde along with the rebel MLAs are currently in Assam where they reached earlier this morning after camping at a five-star hotel in Surat in Gujarat. Both the states are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shinde on Tuesday was removed as the Sena leader at the Maharashtra legislature, and soon after that, he edited his Twitter bio by removing ‘Shiv Sena’ from it.
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Shinde, who has consistently vowed his loyalty to Hindutva and Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray, has demanded that Sena renews its alliance with the BJP.
However, both Shinde and the BJP has revealed that they are yet to send any proposal to form a government in Maharashtra.