Shinde’s revolt successful, rebel MLAs leave Assam for Mumbai with a pit-stop in Goa | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Shinde’s revolt successful, rebel MLAs leave Assam for Mumbai with a pit-stop in Goa

Jun 30, 2022 12:53 AM IST

The Goa administration made elaborate security arrangements as the MLAs used the gate used by the Navy to leave the airport

Mumbai More than a week after they launched a coup splitting the Shiv Sena down the middle, Eknath Shinde and his rebel legislators, who were camped at a five-star hotel in Guwahati, Assam, left for Goa on Wednesday and are expected to return to Mumbai today.

Thane Shiv Sena South Indian Cell members put up a banner in support of Eknath Shinde depicting him as Bahubali outside his house on Wednesday (Praful Gangurde)
Thane Shiv Sena South Indian Cell members put up a banner in support of Eknath Shinde depicting him as Bahubali outside his house on Wednesday (Praful Gangurde)

The new cabinet under Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis is likely to take oath on 1 July and and Shinde, who has staked claim to the party as well as the legacy of Sena founder Bal Thackeray, is expected to play a major role in the new cabinet.

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“Since the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has quit, the decks have been cleared for our return. We will come back on Thursday. The new ministry is expected to take oath on Friday,” a rebel legislator said from Goa. He did not reveal details of the power-sharing pact between the BJP and the rebel group, though it is widely expected that Shinde would become the deputy chief minister.

The Goa administration made elaborate security arrangements as the MLAs used the gate used by the Navy to leave the airport. They checked in at the Taj Convention Centre in the Dona Paula of the state capital Panaji. Enhanced police force was deployed at the hotel as well as along Goa’s borders with Maharashtra throughout the day wary that groups of Shiv Sena supporters may try to enter Goa in a bid to protest against the rebel MLAs.

Shinde and other legislators who were staying at Radisson Blu in Guwahati headed to the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in four buses in the afternoon to take a chartered flight to Goa.

At the Guwahati airport, the MLAs were seen wearing an Assamese traditional ‘gamosa’ around their neck and appeared relaxed. They didn’t speak to reporters but their leader, Shinde did.

“We are not rebels. All of us are Shiv Sainiks. We will carry forward Bal Thackeray’s agenda and ideology on Hindutva and the development of Maharashtra,” Shinde said.

Shinde and his team were accompanied to the airport by two ministers from BJP-ruled Assam, Pijush Hazarika and Ashok Singhal.

Wednesday was a day of hectic activity with Maharashtra governor B.S. Koshyari ordering a floor test on Thursday, and the chief whip of Sena, Sunil Prabhu seeking an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court to stay the Governor’s decision. The apex court heard the matter till late Thursday night and refused to stay the floor test, following which Uddhav Thackeray resigned as chief minister of the state.

“We are not worried about the floor test. We have the strength of 50 legislators (including independents). We will pass the test because in a democracy, numbers are supreme in a majority,” Shinde said before leaving Assam.

Shinde said that the rebel leaders planned to visit Bal Thackeray’s makeshift memorial in Shivaji Park on Thursday. “We will visit Balasaheb Thackeray’s smruti sthal (the makeshift memorial of Sena supremo in Mumbai). This is Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena that takes forward his ideology of Hindutva. This is a Shiv Sena that would make Maharashtra progress and make its people prosperous,” he said.

Ever since they arrived in Guwahati there was speculation on how much money was spent in the hotel and who footed the bill. On Wednesday, after the Maharastra MLAs departed, sources from within the hotel informed that the entire stay was being strictly monitored by senior BJP leaders of Assam including two ministers. They interacted only with a few top managers with other employees getting no clue at all about what the MLAs ate, drank and spent on availing other facilities in the hotel.“No party is paying for our expenses (of hotel accommodation). Our leader called us and we came and stayed (in the Guwahati hotel). We will pay for our expenses. BJP isn’t behind all of this,” rebel Shiv Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar had said.

Before leaving, Shinde thanked Assam’s ruling party, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for making their stay in Guwahati comfortable and memorable. He also announced on Twitter the decision of his camp to donate 51 lakh to the chief minister’s relief fund to help cope with the ongoing flood situation in the state.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma responded: “Heartfelt gratitude to hon’ble Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shindeji for contributing 51 lakh to CM Relief Fund. The contribution will go a long way in reaching out to the flood victims and ensuring relief in flood-affected areas of our state”.

The rebel camp’s pit-stop in Goa was their third destination since the political crisis erupted in Maharashtra on June 21. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Mumbai police have been deployed to provide security as the rebel MLAs land in the city. Uddhav Thackeray asked party workers to avoid taking on the rebels.

Shinde, who launched the coup with the BJP top brass in confidence— although, on record, BJP leaders said that the split was the party’s internal issue and they had nothing to do with it —outperformed other former Sena leaders who sought to break away from the party, including Chhagan Bhujbal (currently with the Nationalist Congress Party), Narayan Rane (a Union minister with the BJP) and Raj Thackeray (leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena). Shinde walked away with nearly 40 legislators of the Sena. But his real challenge lies in ensuring that this translates into support on ground among the rank-and-file.

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