JOIN USRebel MLAs take dig at Uddhav Thackeray over Eknath Shinde's removal
Without naming Uddhav Thackeray, rebel Shiv Sena lawmaker Deepak Kesarkar on Saturday said that the former Chief Minister should introspect as to whether sending a letter to Eknath Shinde directing the latter's removal from the party was an insult to the people of Maharashtra or not.
Kesarkar's comments came on a day when the rebel group of MLAs who had been holing out at a five star resort near Panaji over the last few days, left under heavy police escort to the Dabolim international airport, reportedly for Mumbai.
“There is one tradition, that the leader of the House, who gets elected and becomes chief minister, doesn’t limit himself to one party. He is the leader of all parties in the House. This is why he is called the leader of the House. When he enters Assembly, ruckus or business being carried out is paused till he seats himself on his chair. This is the respect to that chair,” Kesarkar told a press conference here, hours before the MLAs departed from Goa.
The development comes a day after Uddhav Thackeray's letter to Shinde removing him as a Shiv Sena leader for alleged anti-party activities was leaked to the media.
“When you say that you have removed the leader of the House from the party, you need to think of the people of Maharashtra, whether you are insulting them or not,” Kesarkar questioned.
The former Shiv Sena Minister and MLA from the Sawantwadi constituency in South Maharashtra, also said that he continues to respect Thackeray and hence would not comment on his personally over the letter dropping Shinde as party leaders.
“We will not speak anything against Udhav Thackrey (as all respect him), but we will reply to the letter sent by him. We will take legal advise to reply to the letter,” Kesarkar said.
“Shinde is still our leader, all of us who had been elected on a Shiv Sena ticket had chosen him as Leader of the organisation. Nobody can snatch it from him. There are those who have tried it, we have approached the Supreme Court (against them). I don’t want to comment on it. But again and again such things are taking place,” the breakaway Sena MLA said.
Responding to the criticism of a video of the rebel MLAs dancing in joy in the Goa hotel after Shinde was sworn-in as Chief Minister earlier this week, Kesarkar said: “Not all from that group were MLAs, maybe one or two were there. Even that little mistake should not happen from us".
Kesarkar said that the MLAs were "concerned" about the progress of Maharashtra and act responsibly in the future.
"After winning this battle of responsibility, our sentiments are with the progress of Maharashtra. We will not hold any celebration as we have told before. Even if we win the floor test, then also we will not celebrate," Kesarkar said.