PANJIM: The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs of Maharashtra who were holed up in five-star comfort in flood-hit Assam for over a week, had initially planned to board one or more chartered planes and fly all the way to Goa to camp just for a night before heading off to Mumbai for a floor test, to prove if the Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government.
Life on a jet plane: Cross-country flying MLAs make Goa their last pitstop before the homestretch
However, with Thackeray moving the Supreme Court to stall the floor test, the “Shinde Sena”, as the Eknath Shinde-led rebels are being referred to, waited in Guwahati to take the next step. Once the Apex Court greenlighted the floor test, the chartered Spice Jet flight took off Guwahati and jetted from the extreme east to the extreme west of the country, for the last pitstop of the country-wide crisscrossing that the rebel Shinde- Sena bunch has done on the past ten days.
Guwahati take off: Uddhav till CM. Goa landing: Uddhav resigns as CM
A lot can happen when you fly from Guwahati to Goa. Even as the rebel MLAs were midair, Uddhav Thackeray their target resigned. In fact, it is after landing in Goa that they were informed that the man who was their leader and CM, till they decided to bring him down had in fact resigned before the floor test.
With Uddhav making conciliatory statements like asking the rebels to come and carry out their legislative duties without any hindrance, the Goa visit was a bit of an anti-climax.
Backdoor welcome: MLA whisked away from rear entrance and rushed to seven-star convention hotel at Dona Paula
But the drama didn’t end. Empty buses were parked outside the arrivals gate but the guests from Guwahati were taken out from the cargo side and soon headed towards their hotel at Dona Paula in specially arranged fully air-conditioned buses. Who was paying for all this? Good question but one can only guess.
The full force of the State was in readiness as Goa played host
A strong police force was also deployed at both the places — outside the airport and outside the hotel.
The Goa police made extensive security arrangements fit for top VVIPs. No vehicle was allowed to enter or exit the hotel gate without thorough checking. Every vehicle entering the hotel had to undergo thorough checking. Also, unnecessary movement of people on the hotel premises was restricted while media persons were not allowed to go beyond the police cordon.
Even Shiv Sena activist Shailendra Velingkar who was outside the hotel was arrested by the police as the preventive measure.
The security at all the border check-posts was beefed up fearing that Shiv Sainiks from across the border could enter the State and threaten the rebels.
DGP Jaspal Singh and IGP Omvir Singh arrived at the hotel at around 10 am and checked the security arrangements before the MLAs landed at the hotel where the rebels will spend a night which will be far less tense since Uddhav Thackeray has already quit.
