'80% Sena MLAs with Eknath Shinde'

Shiv Sena Minister Gulabrao Patil, who had reportedly gone incommunicado, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com that he along with Chandrakant Patil, another party MLA, have reached Guwahati and will soon meet Eknath Shinde.

"We are here to reason it out with Shinde saheb. Being my senior, I cannot convince him, but we will definitely try to speak to him about his open rebellion against the party. I can only request him (Shinde) to come back," Patil says before switching off his phone in a hurry.

Chandrakant Patil, the Shiv Sena MLA from Muktainagar, is accompanying him and they are at the same hotel where Eknath Shinde is staying reportedly with more than 38 MLAs. "80 per cent of party MLAs are already with Shinde saheb," says Gulabrao Patil.

Patil, also known as Gulab Bhau, the Shiv Sena MLA from Jalgaon (Rural), was given a free hand by the Shiv Sena to compete against then BJP MLA Eknath Khadse but with Khadse becoming part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi after his election to the Maharashtra legislative council from the Nationalist Congress Party, he too felt that the MVA is becoming detrimental to their spheres of influence in their respective strongholds.

Patil admitted that a large section of Shiv Sena MLAs are preparing to join the Eknath Shinde camp and confirmed that more than 38 MLAs are in Guwahati.

When asked if he was still in the Uddhav Thackeray camp, Patil said, "Let me first go there and find out why so many MLAs have rebelled against the party."