Express News Service
Gujarat’s Surat has turned out as the centre of major political earthquakes that is likely to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.
The disgruntled rebellion Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and 21 Sena MLAs are camped at Hotel Le Meridian in Surat. Interestingly, the rooms in this hotel were booked on Monday evening only.
Sources said that Gujarat BJP unit CR Patil is the key behind the rebels of Shinde against Uddhav Thackeray.
“Patil has been in touch with Shinde for a long time to carry out the operation lotus in Maharashtra. Patil who hails from Jalgaon is in touch with some of the Sena MLAs as well. These MLAs include Chimanrao Patil from Parola and Kishor Patil from Pachora, who belong to the Maratha community. This link helped Patil to connect Shinde and other disgruntled MLAs of Sena. It was planned ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections and Maharashtra state legislative council elections by transferring Shiv Sena votes to BJP,” said a source who requested anonymity.
Interestingly, after the arrival of Shinde and his supporter MLAs, Patil cancelled all his scheduled meetings. He was in Ahmedabad and then he rushed to Surat. Besides, Gujarat police also deployed heavy security to the hotel where Sena MLAs are camped.
One of the rebel Shiv Sena MLA said that he has been promised cabinet ministerial in the new government. He said in the Thackeray government, he was the senior-most but was still neglected.
Senior Shiv Sena leader said Shiv Sena leaders and MLAs who are under the scanner of Central agencies have also encouraged Shinde to take his step against Shiv Sena leadership and form the government with BJP. Sources said that Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik and former chairman of BMC standing committee Yashwant Jadhav were also in Delhi and coordinating with the BJP leaders and Shinde.
“The communication gap between rural MLAs and urban MLAs of Sena increased. The power of government was concentrated with urban faces that annoyed rural Sena MLAs. Besides, Uddhav Thackeray was not easily approachable and accessible. In fund allocations, NCP leader Ajit Pawar dominated the decisions that did not well with Sena MLAs,” said a source who requested anonymity.
