In show of strength, Eknath Shinde camp releases video of 42 rebel MLAs from Maharashtra govt

NEW DELHI: A video of 42 rebel MLAs from Maharashtra (35 from Shiv Sena and 7 Independents) was released on Thursday showing them sitting together in a hotel in a Guwahati.
Bharat Gogawale, who was appointed chief whip by the rebel candidates, said the 42 rebel MLAs are supporting Eknath Shinde and more would join soon.
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In the video, the MLAs can be heard shouting: "Saab [Shinde] tum aage badho, hum tumhare saath hain (You keep moving forward sir, we are behind you)”.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra legislative assembly's deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal said he has approved the appointment of Ajay Choudhary as the Shiv Sena's group leader in the House, replacing rebel legislator Shinde. "I have received a letter from the Shiv Sena, informing me that it is appointing Choudhary as the party's leader in the Assembly and removing Shinde from the post with immediate effect," said Zirwal.

"I have accepted the letter, which was sent by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray," the deputy speaker said, adding that Shinde's removal as the Sena group leader in the Assembly was valid.
'Opponents of Shiv Sena were getting attention'
Earlier in the day, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat wrote a letter to Uddhav Thackeray, claiming that Shinde took the step of going against the party leadership as Sena MLAs, who faced "humiliation" for the last two-and-a-half years, persuaded him to do so.
While the Shiv Sena legislators had no access to the CM, the Congress and NCP, which are the "real opponents" of the Sena, were getting all the attention, he claimed in the letter, dated June 22. The Sena shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.
Shirsat, the MLA from Aurangabad (West) Assembly constituency, in the letter claimed that despite the Shiv Sena being in power and having its own chief minister, the coterie around Thackeray never allowed them access to 'Varsha', the CM's official residence.
MLC polls
The Shiv Sena-led tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra was trumped by the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls to six seats from the state on June 10, when the Sena's second candidate, Sanjay Pawar, lost to BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik.
In the MLC polls to 10 seats held on June 20, the MVA again suffered a setback when it lost one out of the six seats it contested. The opposition BJP in the state won all the five seats which it had contested.
It was later revealed that several Sena MLAs had cross-voted for the BJP in the MLC polls.
Days after the MLC polls results, Shinde and several other party MLAs left Maharashtra for Gujarat on June 21 before moving to Guwahati in the wee hours of June 22. The Sena MLAs signed a resolution retaining Shinde as the legislative party leader and appointed Gogawale as the new Sena chief whip.
Reacting to the development, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray offered to resign provided even one Shiv Sena MLA comes back to Mumbai and makes such a demand in a face-to-face interaction. Despite this emotional appeal, Shinde refused to budge and insisted that Shiv Sena should leave the MVA
(With inputs from agencies)