As sena gets its own G-22, Team Thackeray claims “no threat”: know 10 points here

This may signal a major crisis for the ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.

Mumbai: Maharashtra minister and top Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has reportedly moved to Meridian hotel in Surat in BJP-ruled Gujarat with 21 other party MLAs, setting off alarm bells in the Uddhav Thackeray government.

Here are 10 facts from this big story

1. Sources say Mr Shinde, who is reportedly upset, is “unreachable”. Sources said there are a total of 22 Sena MLAs at the hotel, five of them ministers. Uddhav Thackeray has called an emergency meeting at his residence and Sena sources said at least 35 Sena MLAs are present there.
2. Sharad Pawar, chief of Sena ally Nationalist Congress Party, is in Delhi to attend the Opposition’s meeting on Presidential polls. Sources said he will be flying back to Mumbai later and hold a meeting with Mr Thackeray.
3. Targeting the BJP, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said there is a conspiracy to topple the Uddhav Thackeray government in the “same pattern as in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan”. “Shiv Sena is a party of loyalists. We won’t let that happen,” he said.
   Opposition BJP’s sources have claimed that besides the 13 Sena MLAs with Mr Shinde, there are five Independent MLAs at the Surat hotel too.
4. This comes hours after the Maha Vikas Aghadi ruling alliance and the BJP won five seats each in the Legislative Council elections. Opposition BJP won all five seats it contested. Congress candidate Chandrakant Handore lost in a setback for the ruling alliance.
5. “Eknath Shinde was with us at the hotel and was trying to ensure MVA candidate’s victory. We cannot say anything till we speak to him,” Mr Raut told the media. He added that they have spoken to Mr Pawar.
6. Mr Raut further said that they have spoken to some of the MLAs in Surat. “Some of them want to return, but they are not being allowed to,” he said, stressing that the MLAs are “loyalist Shiv Sainiks”.
7. Mr Shinde, it is learnt, may address the media at noon. A prominent Sena leader in Thane, Mr Shinde has played a key role in strengthening the organisation in the region.
8. His son, Dr Shrikant Shinde, is Sena’s Member of Parliament from Kalyan. He was named Leader of the Opposition in 2014 after the Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP.
9. Devendra Fadnavis, the BJP’s top leader in Maharashtra, reached Delhi and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Sena MLAs may be moved to Ahmedabad where they may have a meeting with Mr Shah, sources have said.
10. Of late, there have been reports that Mr Shinde is upset with the leadership and has been feeling sidelined.
11. Former Sena leader Narayan Rane, who is now with the BJP, had a cheeky response. “No comments should be made on such things, else what is the point of being unreachable,” he said.

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