Mumbai, Jun 23: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's emotional plea fails to strike a chord as only 13 MLAs attend the crucial meet at Varsha on Thursday.
The Shiv Sena is heading for a split with six more of its MLAs joining the rebels who are stationed in Guwahati.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray will come back to Varsha Bungalow very soon.
"21 MLAs in Guwahati have contacted us and when they return to Mumbai, they will be with us," said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut.
Reportedly, only 12 MLAs attended the meeting at Varsha, while Aditya Thackeray stayed at Matoshree. Here's the list of MLAs at Varsha:
The Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena now has the backing of 37 MLAs, one more than the number needed to split the party without attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Shinde had on Wednesday given a letter to the Assembly's deputy speaker, signed by 35 Sena MLAs, replacing Sunil Prabhu with Bharat Gogavale as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena legislature party.
Shinde reiterated that he had no plans to cut off ties with the party and would always remain "Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sainik".
"As far as the current political situation is concerned, I'd say that we are Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sainiks and will continue to be Shiv Sainiks. As of now, we are not holding any talks with Shiv Sena or CM. We have not decided on the future course of action," he added.
The Sena has 55 members in the 288-member assembly while allies NCP and Congress have 53 and 44 respectively. The MVA is also backed by 14 other MLAs and together it has the support of 166 in the assembly where the magic number is 144.
Shinde has claimed the support of 46 MLAs and this is more than enough to circumvent the anti defection law and bring down the government.