GUWAHATI: Eknath Shinde, the Shiv Sena leader leading the party's rebel MLAs, on Wednesday said numbers matter in a democracy and he has them.
Prior to leaving Guwahati, he said he has 49 MLAs with him. "In a democracy, majority is important. We have majority. The public is with us," he told journalists at the Kamakhya temple.
Assam minister Pijush Hazarika, who was also seen at the temple premises, said the MLAs wanted to visit the temple and he was there to "assist" them as a representative of Assam government.
Shinde said the country has a constitution, rules and laws and nobody can bypass them.
"Victory is ours. We are fully confident of it. All the MLAs offered their prayers here. Was anyone forcibly brought? They came on their own accord," the Shiv Sena leader said.
He said he and the fellow MLAs would reach Mumbai on Thursday.
"We will take part in the Assembly proceedings tomorrow. We know the proceedings," Shinde said.
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Later, he told journalists at the Guwahati airport he and the MLAs with him would hold a meeting on Thursday after the floor test and devise the next strategy.
He said they were not rebels but Shiv Sainiks.
"We are the Shiv Sena. We are taking forward the agenda and ideology of Balasaheb's Shiv Sena. One is Hindutva ideology and the other is development agenda. We will work for the state's development," Shinde said.
The MLAs left in a chartered plane of the SpiceJet after 6pm. They were expected to fly to Goa but airport sources said the destination was shown as Mumbai. It was a non-scheduled flight.
Five buses carried the MLAs to the airport from the five-star Radisson Blu hotel. They had checked in here in the morning of June 22 after arrival from Surat.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the MLAs individually settled their hotel bills.