The Shiv Sena on Tuesday sacked chief Eknath Shinde as party leader. The announcement came a day after CM Uddhav Thackrey-led coaliation, the Maha Vikas Aghadi, suffered a setback in the MLC polls. 

Shinde, who is camping in Surat with a few MLAs of his party, said he will never “cheat for power” and abandon the teachings of Bal Thackeray.

“We are staunch Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb who gave us lessons on Hindutva. We will never cheat for power and will never abandon the teachings of Balasaheb and Anand Dighe for power,” Shinde tweeted in Marathi, his first reaction on the ongoing political crisis triggered by him in the state.

The late Dighe, a Shiv Sena stalwart from Thane, was the political mentor of Shinde.

Shinde and a few MLAs of the ruling Shiv Sena have gone incommunicado and are camping in Surat, a move putting a question mark on the stability of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation also comprising NCP and Congress.

NCP head Sharad Pawar, who is at the Parliament Annexe Extension building to attend Opposition’s meeting over presidential elections, said that it is an internal matter of their ally Shiv Sena. He added that there is an attempt to pull down the Maharashtra government, which he said is happening for the third time.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, Shiv Sena has 55 MLAS, NCP (53), Congress (44), Bahujan Vikas Agahdi (three), Samajwadi Party, AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti Party two each. MNS, CPI-M, PWP, Swabhimani Paksha, Rashtriya Samaj Party, Jansurajya Shakti Party and Krantikari Shetkari Paksha have one MLA each. There are 13 independent MLAs. The opposition BJP has 106 MLAs.

In the polls, the BJP managed to win all the five seats it had contested though it had votes to win four candidates. The Sena and NCP won two seats each. Congress suffered a jolt as one of its two nominees lost.