Maharashtra rebel game shifts from Gujarat to Assam

GUWAHATI:  Rebel Shiv Sena legislators led by Eknath Shinde flew to Assam on Wednesday morning amid the deepening political crisis in Maharashtra. The disgruntled MLAs landed at the Guwahati airport on a chartered flight from Surat. There were no official figures as regards the number of passengers. It varied from 45 to 89. “It was a non-scheduled flight that landed at 6:40 am on Wednesday. I was told it had 45-55 passengers. I don’t have the exact figure,” a senior airport official told this newspaper. 

The MLAs were received by Assam BJP MP Pallab Lochan Das and party MLA Sushanta Borgohain. Later, they were taken to Radisson Blu, a five-star hotel near the airport, under police protection. An IPS officer led the police. Sena leader Eknath Shinde briefly spoke to journalists outside the airport. “There are 40 MLAs here. I don’t want to criticise anyone. We want to carry forward Balasaheb’s Hindutva,” he said.

Another chartered plane with four MLAs from Maharashtra arrived here in the evening to join the rebel legislators who reached the city earlier. The four MLAs — Chandrakant Patil, Yogesh Kadam, Manjula Gavit and Gulabrao Patil — arrived from Surat. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been sucked into the eye of a storm over Maharashtra politics being played in Guwahati at a time when the state is facing a devastating flood. 

The Congress slammed him for “conspiring” to topple the Thackeray government. Assam Congress chief 
Bhupen Kumar Borah alleged the Shiv Sena MLAs were held to ransom. Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who is the chief of opposition party Asom Jatiya Parishad, said he viewed the developments as a blatant attempt by the BJP to destroy Marathi regionalism. He said it has always been the BJP’s strategy to subjugate regional forces and narratives. However, Sarma welcomed the “visit” of the MLAs. “Lakshmi arrived. Hotels do not usually get guests during floods. If people come and stay in Assam, we will benefit from taxes,” he said.

Sena MLAs went to visit wildlife sanctuary: Raut
Senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the rebel legislators had gone to Assam to visit wildlife sanctuary. “Earlier our MLAs were taken to Surat, now they are airlifted to Assam. MLAs need to visit different parts of the country, so their current visit to Guwahati is part of this plan,” Raut said, adding that rebellion is not new to Sena