Shiv Sena ready to walk out of MVA, says Sanjay Raut

Digital Desk: Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson for the party, claimed on Thursday that the party is in communication with roughly 22 MLAs who have supported Eknath Shinde, a rebel colleague and minister for Maharashtra. Additionally, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition will prevail if a floor test is conducted.

The Sena MP continued by demanding that the dissident MLAs return to Mumbai within "24 hours" if they wanted the party to leave the MVA, which it shares with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He continued, "We'll talk about it, but have the guts to come back."

The Sena MP made the remarks during a press conference when the party introduced Nitin Deshmukh and Kailash Patil, two MLAs who had just returned to Mumbai from the camp of rebel Shinde. While Patil said that numerous lawmakers intended to return to Mumbai, Deshmukh asserted that there was a BJP plot to topple the MVA rule.

These developments came as fresh photos and a video from Assam's Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati, which is governed by the BJP, showed that Shinde is accompanied by 42 opposition MLAs. There are seven Independents and 34 Sena MLAs in total.

To split the Sena and avoid enforcement of the anti-defection statute, Shinde needs the cooperation of 37 of the party's 55 lawmakers. Earlier in the day, six additional MPs joined the Shinde-led Sena.

Mangesh Kudalkar, Sanjay Rathod, Deepak Kesarkar, Sada Sarvankar, and others joined the breakaway group on Thursday.

In comparison to his prior assertion that the Sena is in contact with 20 rebel leaders, Raut's claim that the Sena is in contact with 22 MLAs from Shinde's camp is marginally more accurate.

Uddhav Thackeray, the chief minister of Maharashtra, said he is prepared with his resignation letter and will quit even if one MLA says they don't trust him in his address to the western state on Wednesday. But he asked that the MLAs approach him and inform him of this.