With confusion prevailing among party men over day's happenings, Shiv Sena chief reassures them during a meeting at The Lalit, Andheri, on Saturday evening
Uddhav Thackeray leaving the Lalit Hotel, Andheri, after meeting his MLAs currently put up there. Pic/ Sayyed Sameer Abedi
The Shiv Sena MLA camp fell completely silent moments after news of the swearing-in broke on Saturday morning. With confusion prevailing over the NCP's stand, the message sent out by the top leadership was to stay calm.
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The MLAs currently staying at The Lalit, Andheri, since Friday did not know what needed to be done and were seen hanging around at the hotel. Things became clear only around 12.30 pm during the press conference taken by Uddhav Thackeray and NCP leader Sharad Pawar, where the latter revealed his stand. By 4.30 pm, Uddhav showed up at the hotel. MLAs Ravindra Waikar and Sunil Prabhu whisked him into a private room straight away, where he put them at ease over the current scenario and told them not to worry.
At the moment, all 64 of Sena's MLAs, including eight Independents who took Sena's side, are at the hotel. But, there is no clarity on how long they will remain there, sources said.
A Sena leader and MLA not willing to be named, said, "Uddhavji came to the hotel and assured us that we still have the numbers and have to stay united."
Sometime later, a scene unfolded at the hotel when one of the NCP MLAs who had gone with Ajit Pawar to Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning was brought to the hotel by Eknath Shinde where he met Uddhav. Soon after, Shinde accompanied NCP MLA Sanjay Bansod to YB Chavan Centre where NCP was meeting its leaders. Late evening, Sena leader Sanjay Raut arrived at the hotel. Raut told the media that they (BJP) do not have a majority and the government would be Sena's. After three long hours, around 7.30 pm, Uddhav left the hotel with Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray.
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