Maharashtra’s political spectrum is witnessing things unfolding like never before. In one such development, Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Rathod’s wife Shital Rathod is admitted to hospital as her husband chose to leave Uddhav Thackeray and left for Guwahati to join Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs.
Eknath Shinde has showcased his power through a video of the 42 MLAs who are with him in Guwahati’s Radisson Blu hotel. Out of these 42 MLAs, there are 35 Shiv Sena MLAs and 7 others are independent MLAs. Today, two more Shiv Sena MLAs are joining the rebel camp, and one of them is Sanjay Rathod. Reportedly, Shiv Sena MLAs Sanjay Rathod and Dadaji Bhuse along with party MLC Ravindra Phatak have left for Guwahati to join Eknath Shinde’s faction of Shiv Sena. This step taken by Sanjay Rathod has left his wife in shock and she was admitted to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai.
Reportedly, Shital Rathod was of the opinion that Sanjay Rathod should stay back with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and that he should not leave the party to join the rebel MLAs. This had also caused a tense situation in his house. For the last few days, his phone was not reachable. After Shital Rathod learnt that her husband is joining the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs in Guwahati, she fell ill and her blood pressure shoot up. According to a report by News 18 Lokmat, Shital Rathod suddenly had a blood pressure problem out of the worry and was admitted to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai.
Sanjay Rathod was also a cabinet minister in Uddhav Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government but he had to step down from the post after the rape allegations leveled against him. On the other hand, Nawab Malik of the Nationalist Congress Party who is jailed in a money laundering case and is accused of having dealt with the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s close associates is still a cabinet minister in Uddhav Thackeray’s government. This very well explains why Sanjay Rathod was unhappy with Uddhav Thackeray and decided to join hands with Eknath Shinde.
Eknath Shinde needs 37 out of 55 Shiv Sena MLAs to bypass the anti-defection law and claim his hold on the Shiv Sena legislature party in the Maharashtra Assembly.
