Maharashtra political crisis: Why Eknath Shinde went for BJP’s Surat

Police stand guard outside Le Meridien in Surat on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

The Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and some MLAs have been camping in Surat. The group is said to have moved there after some alleged clashes between Shinde's supporters and other members of the party.

Some of the MLAs were sent to the Surat's Le Meridien hotel late on Monday night itself. As the political drama unfolded, the security outside the hotel was beefed up.

The BJP's ‘home' state is Gujarat and it is suspected that Shinde selected Surat to keep the MLAs safe. Surat is also the home ground of Harsh Sanghvi, who is minister of state for home affairs and also home pitch for BJP state president CR Patil. So speculations are rife about why Shinde chose a BJP state, believing it to be safe.

On Monday Patil was supposed to be chief guest at an International Yoga Day celebration at Raysan near Gandhinagar. But he strangely cancelled that and landed in Surat, just before Shinde and the MLAs arrived.

The MLAs are currently enjoying their stay at the luxurious hotel. The road outside it also has heavy bandobast.