By PTI
GUWAHATI: The luxury hotel in Guwahati, where dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde is camping with other MLAs from Maharashtra, on Monday extended the closure of all bookings for the public till July 5.
Till Monday afternoon, the Radisson Blu hotel was not taking any bookings till June 30, as per its website.
Later in the evening, if a booking was attempted on any day till July 5, the website prompted, “There is no availability for the dates and rate type you selected. We recommend changing dates or selecting a different rate type when available.”
Reservations can be made from July 6 onwards, it showed.
“They (the Maharashtra MLAs) are likely to extend the booking after today’s court order. But so far, we have not got any information,” an official of the hotel told PTI.
In a relief to the rebel Shiv Sena lawmakers, the Supreme Court kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings till July 11.
It also sought responses to pleas by the rebel MLAs, questioning the legality of notices seeking their disqualification.
The top court also refused to pass any interim order on the plea of the Maharashtra government that there should not be any floor test in the assembly, and said they can always approach it in case of illegality.
In a bid to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, dissident legislators of Shiv Sena along with some Independent legislators are camping in Guwahati, around 2,700 km away, since June 22.
A total of 70 rooms on different floors of the hotel have been booked for the MLAs and their associates.
The hotel has closed the restaurants, banquets and other facilities for other non-resident guests.
“Only airline staff are allowed to stay as they have agreements with the hotel,” a Guwahati Police official earlier said.
Apart from local police, paramilitary forces and dozens of personnel of reserve battalions and commando units of the Assam Police are keeping a tight vigil on the hotel, which is around 15 km from the Guwahati airport.
The hotel, located in Gotanagar area near Jalukbari, is inaccessible even to the press.
A battery of journalists from across the country is present outside the compound.
Radisson Blu Guwahati, which opened in 2014, is the first five-star hotel in the entire Northeast.
It was built on the bank of the picturesque Deepor Beel, and adjacent to the Gauhati University and Assam Engineering College campuses.
