Tukaram Patil, the missing Shiv Sena MP from Parbhani, contacted his son Balu Patil on Wednesday morning at around 8 am.
Patil, who abstained from the no confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh government, which won the motion 275-253, told his son he would come out in the open in the next two to three days and explain his position on why he chose to abstain during the crucial vote.
Balu Patil, the Sena's vibhag sanghatak (divisional organiser) in Parbhani told rediff.com over the telephone that no Sena leaders have contacted him yet and there was no demand from the party that the father-son duo resign from their respective positions.
Although, there was no threat to either Tukaram Patil or his son Balu from the Sena, some 3,000 of the former's supporters thronged his office on July 22 during the crucial no confidence motion. About 500 to 600 of their supporters are still outside the MP's home on Wednesday, his son added.
Is Shiv Sena MP Tukaram Patil with Mah CM?
"It was just a show of solidarity that the people of Parbhani wanted to express for their leader," said Balu Patil. He was categorical that there was no threat from any Sena quarter over his father's abstention from the Lok Sabha yesterday.
"Tukaram Patil is a traitor and the party high command will surely take disciplinary action against him as and when he comes out of hiding," wowed Ravindra Waikar, chariman of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's standing committee and the Sena's contact person for Parbhani.
Interestingly, in an editorial published in the Sena daily newspaper Saamna on Wednesday, Sena supremo Bal Thackeray did not mention any such action against Tukaram Patil even as he took potshots at Bharatiya Janata Party MP K L Diler 'taking ill suddenly and getting himself admitted on the eve of the crucial vote,' reports PTI
Meanwhile, in a related development, Sena circles are abuzz with speculation that Tukaram Patil is with Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane -- Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's political rival -- in Kankavli, Konkan, some 460 km from Mumbai.