The Central government has provided the Y plus grade security cover to 15 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs. The development came hours after Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray warned that the "road to Vidhan Bhavan from the airport goes through Worli (his constituency)".
The MLAs who have been granted the security cover are: Ramesh Bornare, Mangesh Kudalkar, Sanjay Shirsat, Latabai Sonawane, Prakas Surve, Sadanand Saranavnkar, Yogesh Dada Kadam, Pratap Sarnaik, Yamini Jadhav, Pradeep Jaiswal, Sanjay Rathod, Dadaji Bhuse, Dilip Lande, Balaji Kalyanar and Sandipan Bhumare.
Eknath Shinde, the leader of the rebel block, is camping in Guwahati with 40 Shiv Sena MLAs, enough for evading the anti-defection law. The deputy Maharashtra Assembly speaker has sent disqualification notice to 15 of them, including Shinde. They have until Monday to reply to the notice.
Addressing an event on Saturday evening, Aaditya Thackeray, 30, said there is no place in Shiv Sena for traitors.
In his address, Aaditya said, "The road from the airport to the Vidhan Bhavan passes via Worli. It's good that the rebels left (Shiv Sena). There is no room for traitors in the party."
Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had also issued a subtle warning to its MLAs. In a cryptic tweet, he said," For how much time you will stay in Guwahati, ultimately you will have to come back to Chowpatty".
The rebel block has ruled out merger with any other party. They have announced the creation of a separate block called Shiv Sena (Balasaheb).
Uddhav Thackeray has objected to using his father Bal Thackeray's name. Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the rebels should use their father's name for the party.
With inputs from PTI
