New Delhi: The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs have named their group as Shiv Sena (Balasaheb), even as they claimed that they have not left the party and reasserted that their faction enjoys a two-thirds majority in the legislature party and Eknath Shinde is their leader.
In a virtual press conference from Guwahati on Saturday, MLA Deepak Kesarkar said they have not left the Sena, but named their group Shiv Sena (Balasaheb).
“Just 16 or 17 people can not replace the group leader of 55 MLAs and the rebel Sena faction will challenge in the court the order of Maharashtra assembly’s deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal replacing Shinde as Shiv Sena group leader,” he said.
“The MLAs had told party president Uddhav Thackeray that we should stay with the party with whom we had contested election… When so many people voice the same opinion, there must be some substance in it,” he said, referring to the Shinde group’s initial demand that the Sena should revive its alliance with the BJP and sever ties with Congress and NCP.
To a question about whether the Shinde group will withdraw their support to the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra, Kesarkar said, “Why should we withdraw the support? We are the Shiv Sena. We have not hijacked the party, the NCP and Congress have hijacked it.”
He also said the Shinde group will prove its majority in the assembly but “we will not merge with any other political party.”
“We have decided to name our group Shiv Sena (Balasaheb) because we believe in his (Bal Thackeray’s) ideology,” he added.
To a question on when the rebel MLAs plan to return to Mumbai, he said they will come back ‘at an appropriate time’. “At present, there is pressure, we don’t feel that it is safe to return,” Kesarkar said, referring to incidents of attacks on offices and residences of rebel MLAs in Maharashtra.
Uddhav camp passes resolution
The national executive of the Shiv Sena on Saturday passed a resolution authorising Maharashtra chief minister and party chief Uddhav Thackeray to take action against the rebels.
The executive also passed a resolution that no other political outfit can use the name Shiv Sena and the name of its founder, late Bal Thackeray.
“The executive decided that Shiv Sena belongs to Bal Thackeray and is committed to taking forward his fierce ideology of Hindutva and Marathi pride. Shiv Sena will never deviate from this path,” party MP Sanjay Raut said.
“It passed a resolution, giving all powers to take action against those who have betrayed the party to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray,” Raut told reporters.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray arrives at Sena Bhavan to attend Shiv Sena’s meeting, in Mumbai, Saturday, June 25, 2022. Photo: PTI
Rebel MLAs office damaged
Shiv Sena workers on Saturday vandalised the office of rebel party MLA Tanaji Sawant in Pune, warning the other dissident MLAs that a similar fate awaits them in a brazen threat.
Eknath Shinde, who is leading the revolt against Uddhav Thackeray and the Sena’s alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, has claimed that the security cover provided for the residences of 16 rebel legislators, including himself, was removed dubbing the action as “political vendetta”.
A group of workers barged into the Bhairavnath Sugar Works office of Sawant, who is currently in Guwahati as part of the Shinde camp, on Saturday morning. The office is located in the Katraj area.
According to news agency PTI, Shiv Sena corporator Vishal Dhanawade, who was part of the action, said, “The ransacking of Sawant’s office is just the beginning and the offices of every traitor (rebel MLA) will be destroyed in the coming days.”
Shivsena workers in Pune have vandalised the office of Shivsena leader Tanaji Sawant who joined Eknath Shinde Camp. They say Shivsainik can’t see tears in Uddhav Thackeray’s eyes and hence they will not stop unless the ‘gaddars’ are taught lessons. #Pune #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/ECVYHFv3EP
— Ali shaikh (@alishaikh3310) June 25, 2022
Sawant represents the Paranda assembly constituency in the Osmanabad district.
A majority of Shiv Sena MLAs have shifted their loyalty to Shinde and are camping in Guwahati, plunging the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Thackeray into a crisis.
Shinde slammed the Maharashtra government on Saturday for allegedly withdrawing the security cover provided to the residences of 16 rebel legislators.
He tweeted a letter signed by the 16 MLAs that is addressed to Thackeray and home minister Dilip Walse Patil. The latter denied the allegations, saying the government has not taken such a move.
In the letter, the legislators said Thackeray and the leaders of the MVA alliance will be responsible if any harm is caused to their family members. Shinde alleged that the security cover was withdrawn on the orders of Thackeray and Walse Patil due to “political vendetta”.
In the letter, the legislators demanded that their security cover be reinstated.
“If our family members are harmed, then the chief minister, leaders of the MVA government like Sharad Pawar, Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray will be responsible,” the letter said.
The security cover, which is provided at their residence as well as to their family members as per the protocol, has been withdrawn illegally and unlawfully as an act of revenge, it said.
Eknath Shinde plays chess in a Guwahati hotel, June 24, 2022. Photo: PTI
The Shiv Sena on Friday sought the disqualification of 16 MLAs, also issuing notices asking them to respond by Monday, June 27, about why they should not be disqualified.
“Despite issuing a letter to them, none of them attended the party meeting on Wednesday evening here in Mumbai,” party leader Arvind Sawant said.
Though Uddhav Thackeray had initially offered to step down as chief minister to placate the rebels, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has since said that the fate of the MVA government will be decided on the floor of the Maharashtra MLA. He was confident that the coalition would be able to prove its majority.
Shinde has said that the Sena must break its “unnatural alliance” with the NCP and Congress, accusing these two parties of corruption.
How rebel MLAs gave security officers a slip
Meanwhile, details have emerged of how the rebel MLAs gave a slip to their security officers to leave for Surat, where they were camped before shifting to Guwahati.
According to news agency PTI, much before the rebellion caught the Maharashtra government off guard, the MLAs “accomplished the task of giving the slip to their security personnel”.
A police official said the legislators gave the slip to their security officials and the police officers by citing “personal reasons” so that the government machinery remains clueless about their plans.
The crisis, which erupted hours after the Legislative Council polls held on June 20, which saw the opposition BJP managing to get its fifth candidate elected. Shinde had gone incommunicado following the results. He and a group of rebel MLAs first stayed in Gujarat. Since Wednesday, he has been camping in a Guwahati hotel along with at least 38 rebel MLAs of the Sena and 10 independents. Their rebellion became public on June 21 morning.
Talking about how these legislators managed to escape, mostly from Mumbai, to Surat, located around 280 km away, a police official said, “Many of the MLAs, who have been provided protection by the state police department, told their security officers that they had some personal work and asked them to wait until they return. However, they headed to Surat after that without informing them.”
A Mumbai-based MLA was sitting in his office and sipping coconut water when he told his supporters that he would return in a few minutes and left the place, he added.
Another party legislator said that he had to go home for some work. A Yuva Sena office-bearer was travelling in his car, but after some distance, the legislator forced him to get off and proceeded further, he said.
“Another legislator asked his security officers to wait outside a hotel, saying that he had some work inside, but exited from another gate, leaving his guards clueless,” he said.
Some of the other MLAs also made the same escape plan, the officer told PTI.
Four of these MLAs had categorised security cover. These leaders are Shinde, the urban development minister; Shambhuraj Desai, the minister of state for home; and ministers Abdul Sattar and Sandipan Bhumre.
These four MLAs were guarded by special police officers (SPOs) and security officials, but the security teams were not aware of their plans as their personal itinerary was not disclosed to them.
“By the time the SPOs informed about the movement to the protectees to their seniors, the MLAs had crossed the state border. All this drama unfolded within a span of a few hours. The police officials, posted for their security did not realise the escape plan,” he said.
Senior officials from the home department said there was no intelligence failure, as the state intelligence department had provided inputs about some Shiv Sena MLAs being in touch with the leaders of the opposition party leaders for the last few months.
“There was nothing on paper as everything was conveyed to the people concerned verbally, but no action was taken on the information,” he said.