Will speak to CM and say: Sattar on resignation rumours

Shiv Sena leader Abdul Sattar, who was rumoured to have resigned from the Maharashtra ministry as he did not get a cabinet rank, said on Saturday that he would speak after meeting Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Earlier in the day, Sena leaders had dismissed the reports that Sattar, who is a minister of state, had quit because he wanted a cabinet berth.

"I will meet Shiv Sena president and chief minister Thackeray in Mumbai tomorrow and then I will speak," Sattar told reporters here on Saturday evening when asked if he had resigned.

Sena leader Khotkar met Sattar earlier in the day.

"Sattar had a word with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and (senior Sena leader) Eknath Shinde. Thackeray has called him to Mumbai on Sunday. The CM will meet Sattar at Matoshri (the Thackeray residence) at 12.30 pm," Khotkar said.

Sattar, MLA from Sillod in Aurangabad district, quit the Congress before the Assembly elections last year and joined the Shiv Sena.

He was made a minister of state in the Shiv Sena-NCP- Congress coalition government.

Meanwhile, senior Shiv Sena leader from Aurangabad, Chandrakant Khaire, lashed out at Sattar, calling him a "traitor".

Khaire alleged that Sattar's supporters did not support the Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate in the Zilla Parishad election here earlier in the day.

"He should not be allowed to enter the sacred Matoshri," the former MP from Aurangabad said.

Meena Shelke of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (comprising Congres, NCP and Shiv Sena) was elected as president of the Zilla Parishad through lottery after she and her Shiv Sena rival Devyani Dongaonkar were stuck in a tie.

Local Sena leaders claimed that Dongaonkar had filed her nomination by defying the party fiat to back Shelke.

Khaire alleged that Sattar's supporters among Zilla Parishad members did not vote for the Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate