Maharashtra rebel leader Eknath Shinde, on Thursday, tweeted a letter by Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat, detailing grievances and reasons for the current political turmoil. In the letter addressed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shirsat said the MLAs were feeling humiliated. He said that despite Shiv Sena being in power and having its own chief minister, the coterie around Uddhav never allowed them access to 'Varsha', the CM's official residence.
Shirsat, the MLA from Aurangabad (West) Assembly constituency, in a letter dated June 22, said there was no question of going to 'Mantralaya', the state secretariat, because the chief minister never came there. "We used to call people around the CM but they never used to attend our calls. We were fed up with all these things and persuaded Eknath Shinde to take this step," Shirsat said in the letter.
In the letter, Shirsat said Eknath Shinde opened doors for the party MLAs to hear their grievances, issues about development work in their constituencies and related fund, and problems with allies Congress and NCP.
''Only Shinde heard us out and took steps to resolve all the problems. The party MLAs persuaded Shinde to take this step (or revolt) for the rights of all the legislators," Shirsat said in the letter. Shinde is currently camping with rebel MLAs in Assam's Guwahati, plunging the Sena-led Maharashtra government into a crisis.
While the Shiv Sena legislators had no access to the chief minister, the Congress and NCP, which are the "real opponents" of the Shiv Sena, were getting all the attention, Shirsat claimed. "Even funds were given to them related to work in their constituencies," he said. Shirsat also said the party MLAs were not allowed to accompany Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray to Ayodhya.
Uddhav on Wednesday vacated his official residence and moved to his family home 'Matoshri', hours after offering to quit the top post amid rebellion.
-with PTI inputs
