BELAGAVI/GUWAHATI: Even as the battle for the Maharashtra throne was on in the Supreme Court, the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, who had been camping in Guwahai’s Radisson Blu Hotel for past eight days, checked out around 5 pm.
Wearing traditional Assamese gamosas and carrying packets of Assam tea, they all headed to the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in five luxury buses. Around 7 pm, a chartered SpiceJet flight carrying all the rebel MLAs took off and landed at Goa’s Dabolim airport 9.45 pm. By then, the fate of the Uddhav Thackeray government had been sealed.
There will be no need for a floor test on Thursday, but the MLAs headed to Taj Resort and Convention Centre, located about 30 km from the airport at Dona Paula near Panaji in special buses to spend the night at the five-star property. At least 72 rooms had been booked for the rebel MLAs and their associates at the luxury vertical resort. A heavy police deployment has been made in and around its vicinity.
After hopping from one BJP state to another, the rebels are likely to head to Mumbai on Thursday. According to sources in Goa, stringent security measures were put in place along the Goa-Maharashtra border to prevent a possible entry of the supporters of Shiv Sena, NCP or Congress into Goa.
Earlier in the day, the MLAs led by Eknath Shinde visited the Kamakhya temple before leaving Guwahati. Shinde reiterated that he had the support of 49 MLAs. “In a democracy, majority is important. We have the majority. The public is with us,” he told media.
Assam minister Pijush Hazarika accompanied the MLAs to “assist” them as a representative of the state government. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said the MLAs individually settled their hotel bills.
At the Guwahati airport, Shinde said they are not rebels but Shiv Sainiks. “We are taking forward the agenda and ideology of Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena,” he said.
Maha cabinet renames 2 dists, Navi Mumbai airport
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday convened a cabinet meeting and decided to rename Aurgangabad and Osamanabad districts as Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv, respectively. The cabinet also approved a proposal to name Navi Mumbai international airport after DB Patil, a local farmer leader.