Sena crisis deepens as rebel MLAs set camp in Assam MLA Deshmukh, five others return Mumbai
GUWAHATI: Hours after a group of Maharashtra MLAs led by dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde reached Assam and were put up in a luxury hotel, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that he welcomes all to visit Assam as the state needs revenue to deal with the devastating flood.
He also said, without elaborating, that he will be happy if Assam becomes an “international political epicentre”.
Guwahati has many luxury hotels and if the rooms are full, “we should be happy as it will bring in revenue. We will earn through GST and we need it during these difficult times of devastating floods in the state”, Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Altogether 55 lakh people in 32 districts of the North-eastern state are now affected by floods. Eighty-nine citizens have lost their lives due to the calamity.
To a question, he said, “Why
DESHMUKH AND THE FIVE SENA MEN WERE PART OF THE 89-MEMBER ENTOURAGE WHO HAD ARRIVED IN THE CITY EARLY THIS MORNING FROM SURAT
should there be a reason for any controversy regarding their visit? We welcome all tourists to visit the state now as we need funds to deal with the floods. Why should we turn away Goddess Lakshmi when most of our hotels are empty or have low occupancy during this period?” Asked whether he will meet the dissident MLAs from Maharashtra, Sarma said that there is no need for him to do that.
“If I can manage, maybe I will meet them for five minutes. In the meantime, some of my legislator colleagues are in touch with them,” he said. The chief minister said that he is busy dealing with the flood situation and will visit Nagaon on Wednesday and Silchar on Thursday. “I will be happy if the state becomes an international political epicentre. I urge all to visit the state so that we can earn revenue to deal with the situation,” he said.
GUWAHATI: Shiv Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh, who arrived here along with fellow party MLAs on Wednesday from Surat, returned to his home state of Maharashtra with five other partymen within hours, officials said, as rebel Sena legislators remain encamped at a hotel here.
Deshmukh, who arrived at Guwahati early this morning in a chartered aircraft from Surat, did not accompany Maharashtra’s rebel minister Eknath Shinde and other MLAs to a city hotel where his colleagues were lodged.
After remaining at Guwahati’s Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi international airport for a few hours, Deshmukh, along with five Shiv Sena activists, left for Nagpur in another chartered aircraft.
Deshmukh and the five Sena men were part of the 89-member entourage -- Maharashtra MLAs and others -- who had arrived in the city early this morning from Surat.
Deshmukh’s wife on Tuesday had filed a missing persons complaint at a police station in Akola in Maharashtra saying she suspected a threat to his life.