'Bal Thackeray Follower, Won't Cheat to Power': Eknath Shinde Amid Sena Turmoil

Reacting to the sacking as chief whip, Eknath Shinde termed himself a true Shiv Sainik.

Eknath Shinde with Uddhav Thackeray.

(Photo: Facebook)

Senior Shiv Sena leader and Cabinet minister Eknath Shinde was on Tuesday, 21 June, sacked as the legislative party leader after he led a rebellion, which has seen at least 20 MLAs holed up at a hotel in Surat.

Reacting to the sacking, Shinde termed himself a true Shiv Sainik and said that as a follower of Bal Thackeray, he had never been taught to cheat his way to power.

"We are true Shiv Sainiks and followers of Bal Thackeray. He taught us lessons of Hindutva. The ideology of Bal Thackeray and the teachings of Dharamveer Anand Dighe have never taught us to cheat our way to power," he wrote in a tweet in Marathi.

A day after BJP's thumping victory in the Maharashtra legislative polls, at least 20 MVA MLAs, led by Shinde, are said to be at Surat's Le Meridian Hotel, suggesting an upheaval of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Meanwhile, at least 30 MLAs, including the ones with Shinde at the hotel, are incommunicado, sources say.

Addressing the media, Shiv Sena MP and national spokesperson Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday that the MLAs at the Surat resort are "not being allowed to leave."

He added, "We are discussing the situation with Uddhav Thackeray ji and Pawar Sahib. Those working with the thought that they are kingmakers will be unsuccessful."

MLC Polls and What Ensued After

Following the defeat of the MVA in the MLC polls on Monday, Shinde and his supporters skipped the meeting that was held later in the evening at 'Varsha,' the chief minister's official residence in Mumbai and were reported to be a "unreachable" ever since.

The BJP managed to make all its five candidates – Pravin Darekar, Ram Shinde, Shrikant Bharatiya, Uma Khapre, and Prasad Lad – sail through the MLC polls.

Two candidates each of the Shiv Sena and the NCP won, while the Congress managed to bag just one seat.

The MVA's Dalit face Chandrakant Handore bore the brunt of cross-voting in the polls by independent candidates and at least three MLAs each of the Shiv Sena and the Congress.

The contest was for 10 seats, which came days after the Rajya Sabha polls in which the Sena-led coalition suffered a defeat.

(Disclaimer: This article has been updated to remove the reference that Eknath Shinde has removed the Shiv Sena from his Twitter bio. Error is regretted.)