Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and other MLAs in his camp have written a letter to Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil, and Maharashtra’s DGP Rajnish Seth asking them to restore the security provided to the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and their families with immediate effect. Eknath Shinde has said that the security of the dissident Shiv Sena MLAs was removed as political revenge.
Eknath Shinde tweeted, “The protection of Shiv Sena MLAs has been withdrawn on the orders of the chief minister and the home minister due to political vendetta. It is the government’s responsibility to protect them and their families.”
राजकीय आकसापोटी शिवसेनेच्या आमदारांचे संरक्षण मुख्यमंत्री आणि गृहमंत्री यांच्या आदेशाने काढून घेण्यात आले आहे. त्यांच्या व त्यांच्या कुटुंबीयांच्या संरक्षणाची जबाबदारी सरकारची आहे.#MVAisAntiShivsena pic.twitter.com/lX2qjVTxGM
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 25, 2022
Eknath Shinde wrote in his following tweet, “In the last two and a half years, the Shiv Sena was and is being decimated in a similar manner by the constituent parties in Maha Vika Aghadi.”
गेल्या अडीच वर्षात मविआतील घटक पक्षांकडून अशाच पद्धतीने शिवसेनेचे खच्चीकरण करण्यात येत होते व आहे. pic.twitter.com/gUn4JEyIJq
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 25, 2022
In the letter signed by the rebel MLAs, it is said, “We are current sitting MLAs, however, the security provided to us at our residence as well as to our family members as per the protocol has been illegally and unlawfully withdrawn, as an act of revenge. Needless to mention, this sinister move is another attempt to break our resolve and arm-twist us to give in to the demands of the MVA government comprising of NCP and INC goons.”
The letter further said, “We state that the reason to give security is a threat and not which side of the politics we are. However, the threats due to which we were forced to leave the state of Maharashtra have been compounded by these actions on the part of MVA leaders. We further state that not only the security of our families and relatives have been compromised by removing the security personnel but also there is an ongoing agenda wherein various leaders of the MVA government are instigating the cadre of their respective parties to take up violence to further intimidate us which is evident from the media reports published on 23.06.2022 at various print and digital publications.”
The rebel MLAs also quoted Sanjay Raut’s threats in this letter. They said in the letter, “Mr. Sanjay Raut threatened the Petitioners and the other members by stating that he would make it difficult for the MLAs who have left to return to Maharashtra and move around in the State of Maharashtra. The relevant part of the interview given by Mr. Sanjay Raut is extracted herein: Let all the MLAs come to the floor of the House. We will see then. These MLAs who have left… they will find it difficult to return and move around in Maharashtra.” The rebel MLAs also attached the NDTV report’s link in which the quoted statement of Sanjay Raut is included.
The offices of the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs Mangesh Kudalkar and Tanaji Sawant are vandalized by the Shiv Sena goons and the rebel MLAs have held Sanjay Raut responsible for this. The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs in the Eknath Shinde camp wrote in the letter, “The impact of these statements was borne by two of our members as their offices were vandalized by the carders of Shiv Sena merely after hours of withdrawing the security from MLAs. It will not be out of place to mention that recently the same scenario had happened in the State of Punjab also where the security of several high profile persona was removed by the state government due to which most of the high profile people became targets of gangsters/goons in the state and the withdrawal of security from MLAs is likely to create a similar impact in the state of Maharashtra as well.”
Concluding with the request to restore the security as before, the rebel MLAs said that if any harm is caused to their families, the Maha Vikas Aghadi leadership should be held responsible for the same. They said, “We state and demand that the security which we are entitled to under protocol should be provided to our families with immediate effect. We further state that if any harm were to come to our family members, the Chief Minister and the leaders of the MVA Government like Mr. Sharad Pawar, Mr. Sanjay Raut, and Mr. Aditya Thackrey will be responsible for the same.”
Eknath Shinde is an influential leader of Shiv Sena from Thane. He is currently leading a group of more than 40 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and a few other independent MLAs. All of them are currently staying in the Hotel Radisson Blu in Guwahati.
