Maharashtra govt in crisis as Sena Min Shinde revolts

Mumbai/Surat: Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and Shiv Sena strongman Eknath Shinde plunged the ruling alliance in the state into a political crisis on Tuesday as he rebelled against his party and landed in a Surat hotel along with some Sena MLAs, putting a huge question mark on the stability of the two-and-a-half-years old MVA dispensation.

Uddhav Thackeray spoke to Eknath Shinde for 10 minutes over phone.

The dramatic turn of events came hours after results of polls to the state Legislative Council on Monday night, which saw the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) losing one of the 6 seats it contested, to the opposition BJP which got all its five nominees elected to the Upper House, possibly on the back of cross-voting in its favour from the ruling bloc besides support from Independents and MLAs from smaller parties.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut said 14 to 15 party MLAs are with Shinde in Surat in BJP-ruled Gujarat. He also alleged that two of them, including Nitin Deshmukh, have been beaten up and he has suffered a heart attack.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party swiftly moved against Shinde (58), an MLA from Thane district, and removed him as the party's group leader in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Getting into action mode, the MVA lead constituent deputed its members Milind Narvekar and Ravindra Phatak to hold talks with rebel leader Shinde in Surat, around 280km from Mumbai, and try to mollify him.

Without naming Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, Shinde took to Twitter, his only comment so far since the crisis broke on Tuesday morning, and said he will never "cheat for power" and abandon the teachings of party founder late Bal Thackeray.

Speaking in New Delhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, whose party is the second largest constituent in the MVA, said there is an attempt to pull down the Maharashtra government, which he said is happening for the third time.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, Shiv Sena has 55 MLAS, NCP (53), Congress (44), Bahujan Vikas Agahdi (three), Samajwadi Party, AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti Party two each. MNS, CPI-M, PWP, Swabhimani Paksha, Rashtriya Samaj Party, Jansurajya Shakti Party and Krantikari Shetkari Paksha have one MLA each. There are 13 independent MLAs.

The opposition BJP has 106 MLAs.

We are in touch with many MLAs. Many had left for their constituencies, but they could not make it. But we are in touch with them and some of them are travelling back, said a Sena leader. Senior NCP leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal told PTI that MLAs of his party are intact.