You merge with BJP; we will rebuild Sena, Sanjay Raut to Shinde camp

Mumbai, June 23: "You (the rebels) should merge with the BJP. Shiv Sena remains our party",  Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said on the rebels’ demand that Shiv Sena should break up with the NCP and Congress to form a government with the BJP. Raut also challenged Eknath Shinde’s camp to a floor test in the assembly, while also telling them that their chance to return is still not lost. Amid the political turmoil in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray vacated his official residence ‘Varsha’ at the Malabar Hill area here last evening and returned to his private home ‘Matoshri’ in Bandra along with his family. 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.