Surat, Guwahati, and Goa: The many pit stops in the Eknath Shinde camp’s road to rebellion

With each passing day, the political crisis in Maharashtra is only deepening. Now Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, informing him of a trust vote , which is likely to be held on Thursday. So far, the Eknath Shinde-led rebel legislators were orchestrating the political drama from Assam’s Guwahati. But with the latest developments, a change in logistics was inevitable. On Tuesday, Shinde had said that all the MLAs in his camp would be heading back to Mumbai and were expected to be in the city by Wednesday evening. However, after an alleged “fake letter” with the governor’s name on it got leaked, there has been a change of plan. Shinde & Co will now be back in the Maharashtra capital around 10 am on Thursday amid tightened security. Around 125 rooms have been booked in Taj President in Mumbai’s plush Cuffe Parade. But before they return to the city after nine days, they will make yet another pit stop. We take a look at how the rebel faction left Mumbai and travelled far and wide to change the fortunes of the Shiv Sena and the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The drama started after the MVA suffered a setback in Maharashtra Legislative Council polls with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning all the five seats it contested. The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party bagged two seats each and the Congress got one. Its other candidate Chandrakant Handore lost. In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP secured 134 votes. The MVA coalition’s support was reduced to 151 from 169 in the Assembly, where the majority mark is 145. First stop, Surat On 21 June, Uddhav Thackeray was in for a rude shock when he realised that Eknath Shinde had flown to Surat in BJP-ruled Gujarat along with 11 MLAs. They were put up at the luxury hotel Le Meridien, which had turned into a fortress of sorts with nearly 400 policemen guarding it. By noon, more support poured in for Shinde and the number of dissident MLAs grew to 25. Amid growing speculation about the rebel camp’s intentions, Shinde broke his silence and said that all the MLAs remained “staunch Shiv Sainiks” and “would never betray the ideals of Balasaheb” (the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for power.

आम्ही बाळासाहेबांचे कट्टर शिवसैनिक आहोत... बाळासाहेबांनी आम्हाला हिंदुत्वाची शिकवण दिली आहे.. बाळासाहेबांचे विचार आणि धर्मवीर आनंद दिघे साहेबांची शिकवण यांच्याबाबत आम्ही सत्तेसाठी कधीही प्रतारणा केली नाही आणि करणार नाही

— Eknath Shinde - एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 21, 2022

NCP chief Sharad Pawar offered his support to the Sena and blamed the BJP for attempts to destabilise the MVA. “This is the third such incident that has happened in the last two-and-a-half years,” he said, adding, “Eknath Shinde has never conveyed to us he wants to be chief minister.” The action shifts to Guwahati In the wee hours of 22 June, the Shinde camp boarded a chartered flight to Guwahati in Assam, another state ruled by the BJP. By now the number of rebel MLAs had grown to 35. In Guwahati, the Sena legislators were welcomed by BJP MP Pallab Lochan Das and MLA Sushanta Borgohain. Shinde, 32 Sena MLAs and seven other legislators checked into Radisson Blu hotel on the outskirts of the city. In a four-point tweet that evening Shinde said that the MVA alliance was unnatural and only the NCP and Congress benefitted from it. “Thirty-nine other MLAs accompanied me. We are loyal to Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology of ‘Hindutva’ and we are keen to take it forward,” he told media persons in Guwahati. Back in Mumbai, news trickled in that Thackeray tested positive for COVID-19 along with Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who was admitted to the hospital. An emotional Uddhav told the rebels that he was ready to quit and left his official residence Varsha for his family home Matoshree. [caption id=“attachment_10851401” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Eknath Shinde with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs at Radisson Blu in Guwahati. PTI[/caption] Staying put in Guwahati On 23 June, Shinde claimed that he has the support of 41 MLAs even as Sanjay Raut made an offer to rebels to return.”We are ready to walk out of the MVA, provided the rebels return to Mumbai within 24 hours and hold discussions with the Shiv Sena,” Raut said. However, the Shinde camp was in no mood to budget with reports emerging that 70 rooms were booked at the Guwhati hotel for the next seven days. The Sena sprung into action and removed Shinde as the Shiv Sena Legislative Party (SSLP) leader and appointed Ajay Chaudhari to the post. Disqualifications and more On 24 June, the Shiv Sena filed a petition with the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, seeking to disqualify 12 MLAs backing Shinde for skipping a meeting of party legislators on 22 June. By now Shinde claimed that he had the support of 37 party MLAs and called the Sena’s move “illegal”, saying that whips can be issued only for voting in the Assembly and not for meetings. The Shinde camp submitted a list of 37 MLAs to Zirwal along with two resolutions stating that — Shinde continued to be the chief of SSLP and that MLA Bharat Gogavale had been appointed new chief whip. Security revoked The tussle continued as both sides stood their ground. The buzz was that the rebel group had decided to rename itself “Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray”. Meanwhile, rebel MLAs complained that the security of the 16 legislators camping in the Guwahati hotel was withdrawn. However, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil denied this. On 25 June, the Maharashtra legislature secretariat summoned 16 rebel Sena MLAs, seeking written replies by the evening of 27 June to the complaints seeking their disqualification. Taking the fight to the Supreme Court Shinde moved Supreme Court challenging the disqualification and against the appointment of Choudhari. Meanwhile, the support for the Thackerays continued to dwindle with minister Uday Samant joining the rebels In Guwahati. A reprieve for the rebels On 27 June, the top court granted some relief to the rebel MLAs, giving them time until 11 July to respond to the disqualification notices. While senior advocate Harish Salve represents Shinde & Co in court, the rebel camp continued to follow the developments from Guwahati. Meanwhile, Thackeray stripped nine rebel ministers of their portfolios and allocated them to other Cabinet colleagues. Coming back to Mumbai After spending a week away from Guwahati, Shinde said that he would return to Mumbai with all the rebel MLAs. Talking to the media outside Radisson Blue on 28 June, he rubbished claims that 20 MLAs of his group were in touch with the Thackeray faction. He claimed to have the support of 50 MLAs. Bye Guwahati, hello Goa

Amidst reports of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs moving to Goa, Goa police personnel have been deployed at Goa International Airport. @mieknathshinde @Dev_Fadnavis #MaharashtraPolitcalCrisis pic.twitter.com/OhepFGJgae

— murari shetye (@murarishetye) June 29, 2022

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However, there were some last-minute changes to the plan to return to Mumbai. The MLAs left the Guwahati hotel around 10 am and headed to the famous Kamakhya temple. They then departed for Goa on a chartered plane at 5 pm on Wednesday. They are expected to travel to Mumbai on Thursday morning. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.