Eknath Shinde, rebel Sena MLAs likely to fly to Goa from Guwahati at 1 pm today

Mumbai, Jun 29: Dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs will fly to Goa from Guwahati at 1 pm today. 71 rooms have been booked at the Taj convention hotel in the state. Thereafter, they will return to Mumbai ahead of the floor test.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked the Maharashtra Legislature Secretary to hold a floor test of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government at 11 am on Thursday.

The letter comes amid the rebellion in the ruling Shiv Sena by senior minister Eknath Shinde, who has been camping in Guwahati since last week with majority of party legislators and several independent MLAs, which has pushed the government led by Thackeray, who is also the Sena president, into a crisis.

In his letter sent to Maharashtra Legislature's Principal Secretary Rajendra Bhagwat, Koshyari, said, "A special session of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha (legislative Assembly) shall be summoned on June 30 (Thursday) at 11 am with the only agenda of a trust vote against the chief minister, and the proceedings shall be concluded in any case by 5 pm."

"The proceedings of the House shall be telecast live and appropriate arrangements for the same shall be made," the letter said.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had on Tuesday night met the governor and requested him to ask the Thackeray-led government to prove its majority in the Assembly, claiming that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition dispensation seemed to be in minority as 39 Sena MLAs who belong to the Shinde faction have said they do not support it.