As Maharashtra's ruling coalition battles for survival, Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has reiterated his demand that his party should form an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and walk out of the tripartite government.
Shinde has told this to a Shiv Sena delegation comprising Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's confidants Milind Narvekar and Ravindra Phatak, who are in Surat to meet him and 21 other legislators.
Meanwhile, with a tweet earlier today, Shinde has dropped sufficient hint that he has decided to part ways with Shiv Sena to chart start a new innings.
In a tweet in Marathi, Shinde said, "We are Balasaheb's staunch Shiv Sainiks ... Balasaheb has taught us Hindutva .. We have never and will never cheat for power regarding Balasaheb's thoughts and Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Saheb's teachings."
Hinting at a switch, Shinde has also dropped "Shiv Sena" from his Twitter bio.
Shiv Sena, meanwhile, said has been removed Shinde as the party's group leader in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
Shinde has been removed as the Shiv Sena group leader in the Assembly and replaced with Ajay Choudhuri, the party's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said.
In another development, sources said that some of the MLAs with Shinde have dialled party chief and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray from the Le Méridien hotel in Surat and have alleged that have been "forcibly" taken to the neighbouring state.
