How Eknath Shinde plunged Uddhav Thackeray led-MVA govt into survival battle

Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and Shiv Sena strongman Eknath Shinde plunged the ruling alliance in the state into a political crisis on Tuesday as he rebelled against his party and landed in a Surat hotel along with some Sena MLAs, putting a huge question mark on the stability of the two-and-a-half-years old MVA dispensation. The dramatic turn of events came hours after results of polls to the state Legislative Council on Monday night, which saw the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) losing one of the 6 seats it contested, to the opposition BJP which got all its five nominees elected to the Upper House, possibly on the back of cross-voting in its favour from the ruling bloc besides support from Independents and MLAs from smaller parties.