GUWAHATI:
Amidst severe criticism from the opposition Congress, a group of 40 rebel Shiv Sena legislators from Maharashtra were provided royal hospitality at a luxury hotel in Guwahati, on June 22.
“It is a nice place,” said dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who is leading the group, after arriving in the city. Earlier, the rebel MLAs were received at Guwahati’s Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Tezpur Pallab Lochan Das, and legislator Sushanta Borgohain.
Shinde, who was initially reluctant to speak to the press, said that he has “the support of 40 MLAs”. The Shiv Sena legislator also asserted that they are committed to Balasaheb Thackeray’s “Hindutva” ideology. “We are committed to Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology of ‘Hindutva’ and we want to take it forward,” said the Maharashtra Urban Development minister.
Earlier, crisis emerged in the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) government in Maharashatra after Shine demanded Shiv Sena exits from the coalition government and join hands with the BJP. When asked about how things will unfold in Guwahati, Borgohain, refraining from commenting on the crisis, washed his hands off the issue, and said, “People known to us have come here and so we have come to receive them.”
Meanwhile, the state unit of Congress, which is a coalition partner in the MVA government with 44 MLAs in the 288-member assembly along with 53 legislators of the National Congress Party (NCP), slammed the Assam government for extending “royal hospitality” to 40 MLAs at a time when the state is reeling under severe floods.
“At a time when 53.94 lakh people in 31 districts affected by the devastating flood, washing away their houses and livestock and landslides have claimed hundreds of lives of man and animals in the state, the chief minister is extending royal hospitality to 40 MLAs who flew from Maharasthra in a conspiratorially-planned process to form the government,” said Bhupen Kumar Bora, president Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC).
Condemning chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bora said that the chief minister also failed to bring Union minister to take the stock of the situation at a complex, distress and crisis time of the state. “He has miserably failed to convince the Central government to release sufficient funds to handle and address the flood situation, there is no language to denounce the chief minister. In the name of flood relief and rehabilitation, there has been ultimate discrimination and only priority is given to publicity,” Bora said, adding that the chief minister, who was not shy about extending royal hospitality to the MLAs, has put up a poor example by “capturing” them in a conspiracy-process to form a BJP government in Maharashtra.
Sarma, however, called the “visit” a “boost to the state’s economy” during this time of crisis. “It is a good thing that visitors have come to Assam; our hotels will earn revenue; govt will get GST and at this crucial time, when state is fighting floods, we need this revenue,” the chief minister said.