Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday night vacated his official residence in south Mumbai and moved to family home in suburban Bandra, hours after offering to quit the top post amid rebellion by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde.
CM moved out of ‘Varsha’, his official residence, and reached outside Matoshri at around 10.30 pm.
Earlier, during a ‘Facebook Live’ session in the evening, an emotional Uddhav Thackeray offered to quit as Maharashtra Chief Minister and extended an olive branch to rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, saying he will be happy if a Shiv Sainik succeeds him.
Guwahati hotel turns into fortress: A posse of hawk-eyed security personnel stood guard outside the luxury hotel Radisson Blu, where a group of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs from Maharashtra have put up following their arrival in Guwahati Wednesday morning, turning the upscale property into an impenetrable fortress. Rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde said the ruling MVA was an “unnatural alliance” and it was imperative for his party to walk out of the coalition with the NCP and the Congress for its own sake and that of party workers.
Shinde has claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership.
Meanwhile, another chartered plane with four MLAs arrived Guwahati on Wednesday to join the rebel MLAs, sources said.
‘Missing’ Sena MLA returns: Shiv Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh, who had accompanied party rebel Eknath Shinde to Surat, on Wednesday claimed that some people had forcibly admitted him to a hospital there and he was administered injections though he never suffered a heart attack.
Kailas Patil, another MLA representing Osmanabad, said he escaped from a car carrying legislators to Surat, walked kilometres, hitched a ride on a two-wheeler and truck before he was finally sent a vehicle to ferry him to CM’s residence.
