Maha Political Turmoil: Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde holed up with 12 MLAs at Surat hotel
Senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has reportedly gone incommunicado with 10-12 other MLAs since Monday evening. He is believed to be in Surat and is likely to address the press conference this noon.
FollowA rebellion has reportedly broken out in Maharashtra after senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde reportedly went holed up inside a five-star hotel in Gujarat's Surat with 12 other MLAs. Shinde's actions point towards the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government being in trouble.
Also Read: Who is Eknath Shinde, the Sena minister posing a threat to the Maha government?
The disgruntled Shiv Sena minister is likely to address the press conference this noon. Shinde is also in touch with senior BJP leaders, reports said, adding that the MLAs, who are camping at the Le Meridian Hotel since last night, are seemingly unhappy with their leadership
According to media reports, four of the MLAs are from Shiv Sena while four others are independent MLAs who joined the party after being elected in 2019. The MLA reportedly left Mumbai around 4 pm after the MLC voting ended on Monday, and since then they have been out of reach, reports added.
The contest was for 10 Council seats and 11 candidates were in the fray. The MLC elections came days after the Rajya Sabha polls, in which saw the BJP handing an embarrassing defeat to the Shiv Sena-led ruling coalition.
The MLC elections saw the Aghadi support base toppling to 151 votes from 169. The BJP received 134 votes from 288 members of the state assembly. The majority mark was 145. To note, Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs. The party also has the support of seven independent and smaller parties. The NCP, which had 51 votes in the assembly, secured 57 votes in the Maharashtra state legislative council elections. Congress got 41 out of the 44 votes it officially has in the assembly.
Cross-voting was evident during the MLC elections. After his victory in the MLC elections, NCP leader Eknath Khadse claimed: "Many people tried to prevent me from coming to the Maharashtra Legislative Council. But my victory has given them a good slap in the face. I got more votes than the quota I needed for victory. I am sure that the majority of these votes came from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Because the NCP had 51 votes. But we got 58 votes. Out of these, I got 29 votes. I got this forward vote from BJP."
