A group of MLAs from Maharashtra, led by disgruntled Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, arrived here on a charter plane on Wednesday morning and were taken to a luxury hotel on the outskirts of the city amid tight security. BJP MPs Pallab Lochan Das and Sushant Borgohain Shinde welcomed the MLAs at the airport, who initially refused to speak to media persons waiting outside the airport, later saying they had the ‘support of 40 MLAs’ .
The exact number of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs who were traveling in the plane could not be confirmed, but there were 89 passengers, including the crew, on board, sources said. The MLAs arrived here from Surat and were taken to the hotel in three Assam State Transport Corporation buses.
Earlier, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had claimed that 14 to 15 Shiv Sena MLAs, including some ministers, are with Shinde in Gujarat’s Surat city. However, another party leader said the number could be 23.
The Shiv Sena, which leads the MVA, has 55 MLAs, followed by allies NCP (53) and Congress (44) in the 288-assembly, where the current simple majority mark is 144. Speculation is rife that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was likely to meet the MLAs during the day, though the BJP party or his office is yet to confirm the meeting.
Tight security arrangements have been made with the deployment of a large number of policemen in and around the hotel. According to a BJP source, the MLAs were taken from Mumbai to Surat on Tuesday and the decision to shift them to Guwahati was taken on security grounds.
This is perhaps for the first time that legislators from a western Indian state are being moved to a northeastern state after a rebellion against the party leadership. The Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra is facing a crisis following a revolt by a section of its MLAs under Shinde.
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