Sena MLAs' rebellion: Assam BJP ministers visit rebels
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Guwahati: Ministers from the BJP lead Assam government, Ashok Singhal and Pijush Hazarika, visited the hotel here where the rebel MLSs of Maharashtra are camping along with Maharashtra minister Eknath Shinde. The Assam ministers held serious discussions with the MLAs, PTI reported.
It was the third time Assam Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Singhal meeting the rebels two days after his visits on Saturday.
Also, the Assam Chief Minister Himanata Biswa Sarma stopped in front of the hotel, in the Gotanagar area on the NH-37, after his visit to the flood-affected Silchar. He greeted journalists there and left.
PTI learned that Hazarika, the Parliament Affairs Minister of Assam, spent two hours inside the hotel and left before Singhal's arrival at 11 am.
PTI contacted Singhal and asked about his visit, which he admitted. "He went there to meet an MLA whom he knew," a source told PTI.
However, the visits paid by the ministers came hours after 16 of the rebels were sent disqualification notices.
Assam BJP government's CM Sarma claimed that the rebel MLAs arrived at his state as guests of their own, but the administration had sent a party MP and an MLA to receive the Maharashtra legislators at the airport. Also, Assam Police has taken over the hotel's security from private guards and is not allowing anyone inside.
On Saturday, Maharastra Legislature Secretariat had sent the 16 MLAs, including Shinde, summons and sought written replies on complaints seeking their disqualification. "They are discussing various options to respond to the notices. The current political situation is being deliberated in the meeting," a source informed PTI. Shiv Sena's national executive has authorised Uddhav Thackeray to take action against the rebel MLAs.