Eknath Shinde camp releases pictures to counter 'forcibly taken' claim by Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh

Mumbai, June 23: The Eknath Shinde-led rebel group of the Shiv Sena on Thursday released photographs of Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh to counter his allegation that he was taken to Surat forcibl. "We were forcibly taken to Surat, I tried to run away but was caught by Surat police”, he had alleged. The MLA returned to Maharashtra a day ago and addressing a press conference here, Deshmukh alleged that he was forcibly taken to Surat in Gujarat. 300-350 police personnel were keeping an eye on them. "Before me, MLA Prakash Abitkar tried to get away from them but he could not. We got to know about the conspiracy against the MVA government as soon as we reached Surat hotel," Deshmukh said. With the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra stumbling on the brink of a possible collapse, three more Shiv Sena legislators have joined the rebel group of MLAs led by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde in Guwahati this morning. They have reached the Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati, where other MLAs are camping. Also, four more MLAs had joined Shinde in Guwahati last night and with this, seven more MLAs have joined the rebel group in the last 24 hours. Moreover, a resolution passed by the Shiv Sena Legislature Party carrying signatures of 34 MLAs that rebel leader Eknath Shinde continues to be the leader, has been sent to the state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. The resolution said that Shiv Sena’s ideology has been compromised in the past two years. They also expressed their dissatisfaction with “corruption in government,” referring to Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, who are currently in jail.