The Indian Express | 3 days ago | 26-11-2022 | 12:40 am
FIVE MONTHS after he led a group of MLAs to Guwahati, signalling his rebellion from the Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will head to the Assam capital on Saturday and call on the renowned Kamakhya Devi temple “to thank the goddess for her blessings”.Shinde will be joined by all the MLAs and MPs of his faction on the visit to Assam which will last till Sunday.Shinde had last visited the temple June-end during his stay at a five-star hotel in Guwahati along with rebel Sena and independent legislators who pledged to support him. At that time, he had vowed to return to the temple to “express gratitude to the goddess for blessing them and fulfilling their vow of forming the government”, according to sources.“When we all were returning from Guwahati, we had visited Kamakhya Devi temple to take darshan of the goddess. At the time, we had prayed and expressed our wish that Eknath ji Shinde should become CM of the state. We took a vow that if our wish was fulfilled, we would come back to the temple. So, all of us (the MPs and MLAs) would be going to Guwahati on Saturday and Sunday,” said Kishore Patil, the MLA from Jalgaon.“We will fulfill our promise of revisiting the temple,” said MLA Shahaji Patil from Sangola.Minister Gulabrao Patil, though, said that he won’t be able to go to Guwahati owing to the elections.A source said all the MLAs and MPs would be staying at the same hotel where they were stationed during the rebellion.The Shinde group MLAs are also planning to go to Ayodhya to visit the Ram Mandir. However, the dates for the same are yet to be finalised.Shinde might hold a courtesy meet with Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, said a source.After launching a rebellion against the Thackerays on June 20, Shinde along with a few Sena MLAs had gone to Surat where they stayed for two nights before leaving for Guwahati on June 22.From June 22 to June 29, Shinde along with his supporter MLAs stayed at a Guwahati hotel where more legislators joined them with each day. In Guwahati, Shinde first visited the Kamakhya Devi temple alone and later, all the MLAs supporting him made a stop there.The MLAs then proceeded to stay in Goa for a couple of days before coming to Mumbai to face the floor test and form the government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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