Maharashtra crisis: Congress calls emergency meeting, Raut says party ready to consider exiting MVA

The Maharashtra political crisis is deepening, with both Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and rebel minister Eknath Shinde engaged in a tug of war — the former to maintain the support of his MLAs in order to stay in power, and the latter to go beyond the'magic number' to dodge the anti-defection law. Uddhav Thackeray, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, left his official house Friday night, hours after an impassioned appeal and an offer to resign. Shiv Sena rebels have declared Eknath Shinde as their commander in a letter to the Governor.

Here are top updates from the crisis: 

• Congress calls meeting of its leaders at Sahyadri guest house at 4pm, today, after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said of mulling exiting MVA, if all party MLAs want that.

• "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 & discuss it with the CM," said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut.

• 42 rebel MLAs from Maharashtra - 35 from Shiv Sena and 7 Independent MLAs - seen together at Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati.

• Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs penned an emotional note for Uddhav Thackeray. "Despite the fact that the state has a Shiv Sena CM, the party's MLAs did not take advantage of the chance to visit Varsha Bungalow (CM's house)." People close to the CM used to decide whether or not we could meet him. "We felt disrespected," Eknath Shinde published a letter from a renegade Shiv Sena MLAs

• Aurangabad: BJP puts up a poster, which reads "Goddess Mauli, may your blessings continue to be upon us and Devendra ji come to offer prayers to you in Pandharpur, after becoming the CM." .

• "If the government stays we will be in power, if the government goes we will sit in Opposition": NCP's Jayant Patil on political instability in MVA

• A meeting is underway between NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil, ministers Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad and party leader Sunil Tatkare. The meeting is taking place at the residence of the NCP chief.

• A total of 42 Maharashtra MLAs are present with Eknath Shinde at Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati, Assam. This includes 34 MLAs from Shiv Sena and 8 Independent MLAs: Sources

• "I won't talk about any camp, I will talk about my party. Our party is strong even to this day...About 20 MLAs are in touch with us...when they come to Mumbai, you will get to know...will soon be revealed, in what circumstances, pressure these MLAs left us," said Sanjay Raut from Shiv Sena. He stated that when the floor test is conducted, everyone will see who is positive and who is negative.

• "About 20 MLAs are in touch with us. When they come to Mumbai, you will get to know. Everything will soon be revealed, in what circumstances, pressure these MLAs left us," said Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut.

• Sada Sarvankar and Mangesh Kudalkar - two Shiv Sena MLAs, who were reported to have left Mumbai last night also seen with Eknath Shinde in Guwahati, Assam.

• Eknath Shinde, the rebel Shiv Sena leader and state cabinet minister, stated on Wednesday that he had the backing of 46 MLAs, including six to seven Independent MLAs. "We currently have 46 MLAs on board, including 6-7 Independent MLAs. This figure will climb in the future. We have not yet received a proposal from the BJP, nor are we in negotiations with them," Shinde said with ANI over the phone.
• Shinde stated that 40 MLAs joined him to Assam after arriving in Guwahati through Surat on Wednesday morning, all of them are loyal to late Balasaheb Thackeray's 'Hindutva' philosophy. Shinde landed in Guwahati on Wednesday morning with 32 Shiv Sena MLAs and seven additional lawmakers, including Independents and members of smaller parties, and booked into a fancy hotel on the outskirts of the city.

Also read: Maharashtra Mutiny: 10 key points Uddhav Thackeray made to Shiv Sena cadre

• Thackeray's allies in the MVA, Congress, and NCP stated they supported the Sena but said the revolt was an internal party problem that the party would have to settle on its own. They further accused the BJP of creating the Maharashtra political turmoil in order to "usurp power."
• In the midst of the crisis, the Sena fired Eknath Shinde as legislative party leader on Tuesday. However, following their revolt, Sena MLAs in Guwahati wrote to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for the first time, claiming that Eknath Shinde was still the legislative party leader.
• Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his family members departed their official house 'Varsha' on Wednesday, hours after expressing his willingness to resign if dissident MLAs returned to Mumbai and made such a demand. Uddhav Thackeray and members of his family left his official house amid fans chanting "Uddhav tum aage badho, hum tumhare saath hain."

Also Read | Maharashtra crisis: CM Uddhav Thackeray moves out of official residence for family home

• Party members chanted slogans and rained petals on the CM as he left his official residence with his family about 9.50 p.m. Around 10.30 p.m., he arrived outside Matoshri. However, it took the CM a another 40 minutes to get from outside Matoshri to inside his dwelling.

Also Read | Maha Mutiny: Uddhav Thackeray's government on its way out?

• Eknath Shinde
• Maharashtra crisis
• Uddhav Thackeray
• anti-defection law
• Shiv Sena
• BJP
• NCP
• Congress