Sanjay Raut takes dig at rebels, 'How long you'll hide in Guwahati, return to Chowpatty'

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday took a potshot at rebel Minister Eknath Shinde and his faction questioning how long they will hide in Guwahati. Posting a cryptic tweet with the photo of Maharashtra Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Sitaram Zirwal, Raut remarked that ultimately the rebels would have to leave Guwahati and return to Chowpatty. 

"How long will you hide in Guwahati? Aana hi padega.. Chowpatty.." wrote Sanjay Raut, along with an image of Dy Speaker Zirwal.

Notably, Shiv Sena has sought the disqualification of rebel MLAs - Eknath Shinde, Chiman Rao Patil, Balaji Kalyankar, Sanjay Raimulkar, Ramesh Bornare, Mahesh Shinde, Abdul Sattar, Sandipanrao Bhumre, Bharatshet Gogawale, Sanjay Shirsat, Yamini Jadhav, Lata Sonawane, Anil Bhabhar, Tanaji Sawant, Balaji Kinikar and Prakash Surve. Sixteen MLAs, including Eknath Shinde, have been served a disqualification notice by the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. The legislators have been asked to reply to the said notice by 5 pm on Monday, June 27.

Shinde Camp MLAs to be disqualified?

Concerning Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal's notice, Eknath Shinde and the rebel MLAs held a three-hour-long deliberation with a renowned legal expert on the possibilities of disqualification and the constitutional provisions, and sources further informed. The camp even moved a no-confidence motion against Zirwal, which was rejected. This decision was taken as the rebel Shiv Sena camp's letter giving notice for the removal of the Deputy Speaker was sent via a random email address. Moreover, none of the MLAs who were signatories to the letter submitted it to the office, and it did not have any original signatures, as per sources in the Vidhan Sabha. 

The political crisis in Maharashtra erupted after Eknath Shinde and multiple other party MLAs went incommunicado and went to the Le Meridian hotel in Surat in the wake of several Sena MLAs cross-voting for BJP in the MLC polls. Subsequently, Shinde was replaced as the Legislative Party leader by MLA Ajay Choudhari- an indication that the Sena is unwilling to accept any demands of the rebels. The problem compounded for the MVA as the rebel MLAs moved further away to Guwahati in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray offered to resign provided even one Shiv Sena MLA comes back to Mumbai and makes such a demand in face-to-face interaction. However, rejecting all olive branches, 37 Sena MLAs signed a resolution retaining Shinde as the Legislative Party leader. While this implies that the 2/3rd of the Shiv Sena Legislative Party is now with the Thane heavyweight, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party has filed an application with Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal seeking disqualification of 16 rebels.