Eknath Shinde 'ready to die for Balasaheb's Shiv Sena', hits back at Sanjay Raut

The series of fiery tweets by the rebel MLAs of Maharashtra continued on Sunday, with Eknath Shinde in a fresh tweet citing the thoughts of Hindutva of Balasaheb Thackeray, who he referred to as 'Hindu Samrat'. Taking to a microblogging site, Twitter, Shinde said that to 'save' Balasaheb's Shiv Sena, even if the rebel MLAs would have to die, it would be better. The rebel camp leader said they would consider it their 'destiny'.

"How can Balasaheb's Shiv Sena support people who had a direct connection with culprits of the Mumbai bomb blast, Dawood Ibrahim and those responsible for taking lives of innocent people of Mumbai. This is a step in Opposition to this...Better yet, take us all to the brink of death, " he tweeted, tagging Sanjay Raut, who had earlier in the day made some provocative statements against the MLAs. 

Complaint filed by rebels with Governor in light of provocative statements 

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari received a complaint from 38 MLAs of Shiv Sena, 2 MLAs of Prahar Jan Shakti Party and 7 independent MLAs. In the complaint, they had raised serious concerns about the safety of their homes and families in the context of provocation and threatening statements made by certain political leaders. 

Acting on the complaint, Governor Koshyari sent a letter to Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Bhalla. In the letter, the leader apprised the latter of the fact that he has already issued directions to the state police to provide adequate police protection to the MLAs, their families and homes on an immediate basis.

Outlining that despite this, the offices and homes of some of the MLAs have been vandalised, with the police being 'a mute spectator', Governor Koshiyari requested Home Secretary Bhalla, ''adequate provision of  Central Security Forces be made and kept ready, in case required, to address the situation".

Earlier, the Ministry of Home Affairs provided Y+ security cover to 15 MLAs of Sena rebel Eknath Shinde's camp. About four to five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commandos, in shifts, will be securing Ramesh Bornare, Mangesh Kudalkar, Sanjay Shirsat, Latabai Sonawane, Prakas Surve, Sadanand Sarvankar, Yogesh Dada Kadam, Pratap Sarnaik, Yamini Jadhav, Pradeep Jaiswal, Sanjay Rathod, Dadaji Bhuse, Dilip Lande, Balaji Kalyanar, and Sandipanrao Bhumare.