In a latest development, rebel Shiv Sena MLAs Deepak Kesarkar and Ashish Jaiswal have left Guwahati's Radisson Blu Hotel where Eknath Shinde and the other dissidents have camped, reports said. It is being speculated that Kesarkar and Jaiswal will come back to Mumbai and have a discussion with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Interestingly, before leaving for Guwahati, Kesarkar had personally spoken to Thackeray.
Earlier in the day, Kesarkar who was the Minister of State for Finance & Rural Development during the BJP-Shiv Sena government, said he was firm on his stand that Sena should go with the saffron party. He added that the rebel group hasn't asked for Thackeray's resignation and stated that they only want to discontinue Sena's alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.
Shiv Sena is ready to exit MVA if MLAs want: Sanjay Raut
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said that the party is ready to come out of the MVA government if the rebel MLAs are willing for it.
"MLAs should not communicate from Guwahati, they should come back to Mumbai and discuss all this with CM. We are ready to consider exiting out of MVA if this is the will of all MLAs, but for that, they have to come here and discuss it with the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, said Raut.
Raut further claimed that 21 MLAs in Guwahati have contacted Shiv Sena and when they return to Mumbai they will be with the party.
"Uddhav Thackeray will come back to Varsha very soon. 21 MLAs in Guwahati have contacted us and when they return to Mumbai, they will be with us," he added.
Rebel Sena MLA writes to Maha CM Thackeray
Rebel Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat has written a letter to Uddhav Thackeray, claiming that state minister Eknath Shinde took the step of going against the party leadership as Sena MLAs, who faced "humilitation" for the last two-and-a-half years, persuaded him to do so.
While the Sena legislators had no access to the chief minister, the Congress and NCP, which are the "real opponents" of the Sena, were getting all the attention, he claimed in the letter, dated June 22.
Shirsat, the MLA from Aurangabad (West) Assembly constituency, in the letter claimed that despite the Shiv Sena being in power and having its own chief minister, the coterie around Thackeray never allowed them access to 'Varsha', the CM's official residence.
There was no question of going to 'Mantralaya', the state secretariat, because the chief minister never came there, he said.
The letter was posted by Shinde on his Twitter handle, claiming these were the sentiments of the Sena MLAs.
(With PTI inputs)
