Eknath Shinde with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs at Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati. (PTI photo)New Delhi:
The crisis in the Shiv Sena grew deeper on Thursday with the Shiv Sena seeking the disqualification of 12 rebel MLAs, including Eknath Shinde. “You cannot scare us,” Mr Shinde reacted, arguing that the application is illegal. Thirty-seven MLAs have written to the Governor and Deputy Speaker, naming Eknath Shinde the legislature party leader. The move came shortly after Team Uddav Thackeray filed disqualification applications for 12 rebels with the Deputy Speaker.”Who are you trying to scare? We know your make-up and the law too! According to the 10th Schedule to the Constitution (Schedule) the whip is for assembly work, not for meeting. There are numerous Supreme Court decisions in this regard,” tweeted Eknath Shinde. The Sena had threatened MLAs who skipped a legislature party meeting called by Uddhav Thackeray On Wednesday with disqualification.Mr Shinde, 58, has reached the critical number of MLAs, 37, required to split the party in the assembly without falling foul of the anti-defection law. His total strength is now 42.As the rebel group led by Eknath Shinde gained more numbers, the Shiv Sena on Thursday said it would consider exiting the Maharashtra alliance with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Congress but only if the rebels return “in 24 hours”.Eknath Shinde, camping in BJP-ruled Assam with rebel MLAs, has demanded the Sena break its alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, or NCP, saying the party leaders suffered the most in the last two-and-a-half years of the coalition’s rule.”Many times in the past MLAs informed Uddhav ji that whether it is Congress or NCP, both are trying to eliminate Shiv Sena. Numerous times the MLAs sought time from Uddhav ji to meet him but he never met them,” Sanjay Shirsat, a rebel MLA, was heard saying in a tweet shared by Mr Shinde .The Congress and Sharad Pawar’s party – the alliance partners of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra – have said they were with Mr Thackeray. “We will fight together. The MVA will stay together,” senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said.Eknath Shinde’s supporters have put up several posters in Thane city, adjacent to Mumbai, praising the Shiv Sena leader for carrying forward the legacy of Hindutva by Balasaheb and Anand Dighe, who was Mr Shinde’s mentor.The BJP has denied the accusation of engineering an “Operation Lotus” in Maharashtra. A BJP minister of Assam, however, was seen in photographs of Eknath Shinde and the rebels at the Guwahati hotel where they are staying.Mr Thackeray has said his “resignation letter is ready” and that “if Sena MLAs say it to me, I will quit.” Being power-hungry, he said, is not in his DNA. “I am the son of Balasaheb,” he reminded his party, underscoring the fact that his father abstained from taking any post in multiple governments that included his party.
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