Maharashtra Crisis: Troubles mount for Uddhav Thackeray, 3 more Shiv Sena MLAs join Eknath Shinde

Troubles continue to mount for Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with 3 more Shiv Sena MLAs joining the dissident camp led by Eknath Shinde.

The 3 MLAs reached the Guwahati hotel were the rebel faction is staying on Thursday morning.

Last night, 2 Shiv Sena MLAs and 2 independent MLAs joined ranks with Shinde.

After reaching Guwahati on Wednesday, Shinde had claimed the support of 46 legislators, including some Independents.

He had given a letter to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly's deputy speaker, signed by 35 Sena MLAs, replacing Sunil Prabhu with Bharat Gogavale as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena legislature party.

Shinde has maintained that while the NCP and the Congress were growing stronger in the MVA alliance, the Shiv Sena, which heads the governing bloc, and its workers were getting systematically weakened Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday night vacated his official residence, hours after reaching out to Shiv Sena dissidents with an emotional appeal and offering to quit, even as rebel leader Shinde remained defiant and insisted the party should walk out of the "unnatural" ruling alliance MVA, and claimed the support of "enough number" of MLAs.

Also watch: 4 more MLAs join Eknath Shinde-led rebel camp in Guwahati | Maharashtra political crisis

The CM had moved out of 'Varsha', his official residence in south Mumbai, and shifted to Matoshree, the Thackeray family's private bungalow in suburban Bandra, amid high drama as the Shiv Sena asserted he will not resign in the wake of rebellion by Shinde, who is camping with rebel MLAs in Guwahati.

(with PTI inputs)