Shinde in video claims ‘national party assured to help’

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, have been tight-lipped about any alliance, a video has surfaced of Shinde speaking about support of a “national party”, suggesting the BJP is backing the rebels.

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Top BJP leaders are said to be organising support systems for the rebel MLAs, who are currently in Guwahati, and others who are headed from Mumbai, or via Surat, to the north-eastern state.

Shinde’s statement, caught on camera, came just minutes after he was formally declared the leader of the rebel group. In the video, Shinde was addressing rebel legislators and was heard saying: “We are united, and victory will be ours…there is a national party, a ‘mahashakti’...you know they vanquished Pakistan. That party has said that we have taken a historic decision and assured to provide all help.”