Leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai on Tuesday evening even the political crisis triggered by the open revolt of Sena minister Eknath Shinde deepened. According to reports, Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat and NCP leader Jayant Patil attended the meeting.
The Sena-NCP-Congress government is on the brink of collapse after Shinde, along with 21 MLAs, rebelled against the party and went incommunicado soon after the results of the Legislative Council polls were announced on Monday night. It is learnt that Shinde and his supporters are camping in a five-star hotel in Surat.
According to reports, two Sena leaders have reached Surat and met Shinde at the hotel.
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.
Shinde has been removed as the Shiv Sena group leader in the Assembly and replaced with Ajay Choudhury.
The minister took to Twitter and said he will never "cheat for power" and abandon the teachings of party founder late Bal Thackeray. "We are staunch Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb who gave us lessons on Hindutva. We will never cheat for power and will never abandon the teachings of Balasaheb and Anand Dighe for power," Shinde tweeted in Marathi.
Earlier, NCP chief Sharad Pawar alleged that a third attempt was being made to pull the MVA government down but expressed confidence that Chief Minister Thackeray will be able to handle the "internal issue" of the Shiv Sena.
Both the NCP and the Congress ruled out any threat to the government.
Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil ruled out any link of his party to the ongoing political developments but also said the BJP would "definitely consider" a proposal if it comes from Shinde to form a government.
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.