Maharashtra political crisis: Another Sena minister Uday Samant reaches Guwahati, joins rebels

Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant with rebel party leader Eknath Shinde and other supporting MLAs. Pic/PTI

The power tussle between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena dissident Eknath Shinde intensified on Sunday when Maharashtra Cabinet Minister for Higher and Technical Education Uday Samant joined Eknath Shinde faction at Guwahati.

Amid the political crisis in Maharashtra triggered by a rebellion by a large section of Shiv Sena MLAs, who are currently camping in Assam, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant on Sunday informed that the party has initiated legal action and served notices to concerned MLAs.

A chartered aircraft from Surat in Gujarat carrying three passengers, including at least one dissident MLA from Maharashtra, is set to reach Guwahati on Sunday evening. The aircraft, hired from IndoPacific Aviation Pvt Ltd, is scheduled to land at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport in Guwahati at 6 pm.

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In what seems to be an apparent bid to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, dissident legislators of Shiv Sena, which heads the ruling coalition, have been camping in Guwahati, around 2,700 km away from Mumbai, since June 22.

A group of rebel Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLAs, led by minister Eknath Shinde, were taken to Surat from Mumbai on June 21 and then flown to Guwahati the next day. Since then, several chartered flights carrying dissident MLAs have landed at LGBI Airport.

The Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat on Saturday issued summonses to 16 of the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, including Shinde, seeking written replies by the evening of June 27 to the complaints seeking their disqualification.

The MLAs, after receiving the notices, have been huddling inside the hotel since Sunday morning, discussing various options to respond to the notices, sources said.

(with inputs from ANI and PTI)