No party paying for our expenses: Maharashtra rebel MLA group denies BJP's role in crisis

The Eknath Shinde camp on Saturday denied BJP’s involvement in the rebellion and said that no party is paying for the expenses of the rebel leaders, ANI reported.

Guwahati: Amid allegations of the BJP being sponsoring the MLAs who have turned against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Rebel MLA Deepak Kesarkar, who is a part of the rebel Eknath Shinde camp on Saturday denied BJP’s involvement in the rebellion and said that no party is paying for the expenses of the rebel Shiv Sena and other leaders, ANI reported. Talking to news agency ANI Kesarkar said, “No party is paying for our expenses (of hotel accommodation), our leader Eknath Shinde called us and we came and stayed here (Guwahati hotel); will pay the expenses. BJP isn't behind all of this.” Earlier today, the Eknath Shinde rebel camp named its group ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’ to which, Uddhav Thackeray raised strong objections.

Assam govt not footing rebel MLAs bills: CM Himanta Biswa

Meanwhile, the Assam Chief Minister, who has repeatedly denied the role of his party and Assam government in the rebellion against Shiv Sena and its allies, clarified that his government is not footing the bills for the MLAs staying in Guwahati.

The rebel MLAs have said that they themselves are bearing the expenses for their stay.

The rebel MLA further demanded recognition for their faction and warned of going to court if it is not done and denied the role of the BJP behind their revolt.

Addressing a press conference virtually, Kesarkar said, "We are still in Shiv Sena, there is a misunderstanding that we have left the party. We`ve just separated our faction. We have a two-thirds majority to follow the path we wanted. Our new leader has been chosen by the majority. They didn`t have more than 16-17 MLAs.”

Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde claims to have the support of 38 MLAs of the 56 Shiv Sena legislators, which is more than two-thirds of the party`s strength in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

According to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with the anti-defection law, any group of lawmakers can leave a party and form another or merge with another party without disqualification if they are together at least two-thirds of legislators of the party`s original strength.

On the other hand, The Uddhav Thackeray faction recently submitted a plea before the Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs.As rebels continue to camp in Guwahati, some of their offices were vandalised allegedly by Shiv Sena workers in Maharashtra.

(With inputs from agencies)