Fighting to save Shiv Sena from MVA: Eknath Shinde's message to Shiv Sainiks as Uddhav hardens stand against rebel MLAs

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress MVA government plunged into a crisis when Shinde walked away with a large chunk of Sena MLAs and stationed himself first in Surat and later, at a luxury hotel in Guwahati, criticising Thackeray's style of functioning. The number of rebel MLAs in the Shinde camp has swelled over the past few days, raising questions on the continuance of the MVA government.

TN National Desk

Updated Jun 25, 2022, 22:37 IST

Meeting of rebel MLAs underway in the presence of Eknath Shinde at a Guwahati hotel.

Photo : ANI

Mumbai: As the political crisis in Maharashtra continues, rebel Minister Eknath Shinde today insisted that he was trying to 'save' the Shiv Sena from the tri-party Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. The dissident lawmakers remain ensconced in an Assam resort, with their ranks having expanded to include over 40 MLAs.

"Shiv Sena workers must understand that I want to free Shiv Sena and its workers from the clutches of MVA govt and I have been struggling for the same. This battle is for the betterment of party workers," Shinde tweeted in Marathi.

Similar remarks were also made by two of the rebel MLAs currently staying in Guwahati.

"We are traditionally the rivals of NCP and Congress, they are our primary challengers in constituencies. We requested CM Uddhav Thackeray that natural alliance should be done," Shiv Sena rebel MLA Chimanrao Patil can be seen saying in a video tweeted by Shinde.

"NCP is planning to finish off Shiv Sena. Ex-NCP MLAs whom we defeated were being given Rs 3 billion. We MLAs have repeatedly complained to Chief Minister about the injustice by NCP but to no avail. So we urged Eknath Shinde to play this big role to save Shiv Sena," added rebel Shiv Sena MLA Mahesh Shinde.

While the rebel lawmakers today dubbed themselves the 'Shiv Sena Balasaheb', prompting fresh outrage from the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction, spokesperson Deepak Kesarkar said that they had not left the party.

"We are still in Shiv Sena, there's misunderstanding that we've left the party. We've just separated our faction. We've 2-3rd majority to follow the path we wanted. Our new leader chosen by majority. They didn't have more than 16-17 MLAs," he said.

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