The political drama in Maharashtra took yet another twist as Shiv Sena removed its ‘rebel’ leader Eknath Shinde from the post of legislative party leader in the assembly. Sewri MLA Ajay Chaudhary has been appointed as the new Shiv Sena Legislative Party leader. Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde, whose phone was apparently unreachable, used his phone to tweet that he will not compromise on Balasaheb’s Hindutva for power.
Shinde, who is reportedly in Surat, Gujarat since yesterday, tweeted, “We are Balasaheb’s staunch Shiv Sainiks. Balasaheb has taught us Hindutva. We have never and will never cheat for power regarding Balasaheb’s thoughts and Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Saheb’s teachings”
Eknath Shinde had reportedly gone ‘missing‘ after the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections on Monday, June 20th, along with the MLAs loyal to him. Following cross-voting by some MLAs of Shiv Sena in MLC elections which helped BJP, party supremo Uddhav Thackeray had called a meeting of all the party MLAs. However, Shinde and 13 other MLAs skipped the meeting as the crisis within MVA government continued to deepen.
While Shiv Sena is scampering to keep its flock together, their ally Sharad Pawar has said that he has full faith in Uddhav Thackeray and he is confident that they will find a way out of the situation. NCP chief Pawar is currently in Delhi for the opposition meet ahead of the Presidential elections and will meet Uddhav Thackeray tonight.
Shiv Sena is not the only party in turmoil after the MLC elections in Maharashtra. On Monday night, several Congress workers protested against the Congress party after Dalit leader Chandrakant Handore lost the elections due to cross-voting by his own party’s MLAs.