Eknath Shinde camp denies Sanjay Raut's 'kidnapping' allegations, releases new pictures

After Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and MLA Nitin Deshmukh alleged that some lawmakers were kidnapped and taken to Surat and then Guwahati, the Eknath Shinde camp denied the charge. They release a new picture which shows rebel MLAs, including Deshmukh, smiling while taking a selfie.

In a press conference, Raut claimed that legislators were kidnapped and taken to the hotel. "We have two MLAs, Kailash Patil and Nitin Deshmukh. They are present in Mumbai, one has come from Surat and another from Guwahati. It was a real struggle for them to come to Mumbai. They were literally kidnapped and taken into the hotel," Sanjay Raut said.

Nitin Deshmukh also claimed that he was forcibly taken to Surat. He alleged that another MLA Prakash Abitkar trued to return back to Mumbai but he was unsuccessful.

"Before me, MLA Prakash Abitkar tried to get away from them but he could not. We got to know about the conspiracy against the MVA govt as soon as we reached Surat's hotel," he said.

Eknath Shinde camp denies Sanjay Raut's 'kidnapping' allegations

Following the allegations by Deshmukh and Raut, the Eknath Shinde camp released a picture of Nitin Deshmukh with other rebel MLAs. In the pics, he is seen smiling.

Eknath Shinde has claimed that he has the support of 42 MLAs, 35 from Shiv Sena and seven independents. Bharat Gogavale, who was appointed as chief whip by the rebel legislators, said that more MLAs would join them.

The rebel MLAs have said that there is enormous discontent amongst the part workers for forming the government with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Indian National Congress (INC) on account of different ideologies.