Eknath Shinde denies talks with Uddhav on return

Mumbai, Jun 22: Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Wednesday reiterated that he had no plans to cut off ties with the party and would always remain "Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sainik".

"Right now we have 46 MLAs with us, including 6-7 Independent MLAs. The rest of them are Shiv Sena MLAs. This number will rise in the time to come. As of now we have neither received any proposal from BJP nor are we holding any talks with them," Rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde told ANI.

"As far as the current political situation is concerned, I'd say that we are Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sainiks and will continue to be Shiv Sainiks. As of now, we are not holding any talks with Shiv Sena or CM. We have not decided on the future course of action," he added.

Shinde has claimed the support of 46 MLAs and this is more than enough to circumvent the anti-defection law and bring down the government.

The Sena has 55 members in the 288-member assembly while allies NCP and Congress have 53 and 44 respectively. The MVA is also backed by 14 other MLAs and together it has the support of 166 in the assembly where the magic number is 144.