Eknath Shinde talks with Raj Thackeray over phone about Maharashtra politics

|HT|

As the political turmoil in Maharashtra intensifies, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has spoken to MNS chief Raj Thackeray over the phone twice about the political situation in the state, says an MNS leader. Reportedly, during the conversation, Shinde also enquired about Thackeray's health - as he was recently discharged from the hospital after a surgery.

Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray have always been at loggerheads politically in Maharashtra. Shinde, who has been camping in Assam along with other MLAs, lashed out at the Shiv Sena for allegedly “supporting the culprits of the Mumbai bomb blast, Dawood Ibrahim and those responsible for the taking lives of innocent people.”

"How can Balasaheb Thackeray'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. That's why we took such a step, it's better to die," Shinde said in a tweet. He further added that the rebel MLAs would “consider it their destiny even if they had to die to follow the ideology of Hindutva”. Last week, Eknath Shinde - one of Sena's top leaders, along with some other MLAs went incommunicado - and travelled to Surat, resulting in a massive political crisis in Maharashtra. Hours after this, the Shiv Sena removed the rebel lawmaker as the party's leader in the House. Soon after, rebel MLAs passed a resolution signed by 34 MLAs calling Shinde the party’s head. On Saturday, the Shinde faction announced their group's name to be ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’. The naming of the group attracted sharp reactions from the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde has approached the Supreme Courtagainst the disqualification notices issued by the deputy speaker against rebel MLAs.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)