Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh returns, says he's with Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai, Jun 22: Shiv Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh has returned to his house, voicing his support for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. He claimed that he was "kidnapped" and taken to Gujarat's Surat from where he escaped.

Deshmukh, who arrived at Guwahati early this morning in a chartered aircraft from Surat, did not accompany Maharashtra's rebel minister Eknath Shinde and other MLAs to a city hotel where his colleagues were lodged.

After remaining at Guwahati's Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi international airport for a few hours, Deshmukh, along with five Shiv Sena activists, left for Nagpur in another chartered aircraft.

"100-150 Policemen took me to a hospital and pretended as I have suffered an attack. They wanted to operate on me, harm me under that pretext. By God's grace, I'm alright. I am with Uddhav Thackeray", Nitish said.

The Shiv Sena MLA from Balapur in Akola district of Maharashtra was among 10-odd legislators who came to Surat from Mumbai on Monday night along with Shinde and checked into the luxury hotel.

Shinde came out of the hotel on Tuesday night and went straight to the hospital to meet Deshmukh following which the MLA was discharged.

In Mumbai, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut alleged Deshmukh was among two MLAs who were beaten up and that he has suffered a heart attack.

Notably, Deshmukh's wife Pranjali Deshmukh has filed a complaint at the Civil Lines police station in Akola claiming her husband has gone "missing" and was not reachable since Monday night.

Shinde (58), a multiple-time MLA from Thane district near Mumbai and a Cabinet minister, has rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership, plunging the two-and-a-half-year-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government into a crisis.