Addressing the state via Facebook Live as the crisis engulfs his government, Uddhav Thackeray said some of the MLAs who had fled to Gujarat and then Assam under the leadership of Eknath Shinde had been taken forcibly. Earlier today at least two Sena MLAs - Kailas Patel and Nitin Deshmukh - said they had 'escaped' from the rebel group and returned to the party fold. Uddhav also slammed his critics and issued a stern warning to the rebel MLAs in his address to the state. "If any MLA wants me to not continue as the CM, I am ready to take all my belongings from Varsha (the Maha CM's official residence) to Matoshri (the Thackeray family home)," he said. Nitin Deshmukh on Wednesday flew to Guwahati where Eknath Shinde's rebel camp is staying, but he remained at the airport for four to five hours and then flew to Nagpur where he made sensational claims that he was kidnapped by police in Surat post-midnight on Monday.
"I came out of the hotel at 12 midnight. I was still on the road at 3am. I was not getting any van. I was followed by 100-150 policemen who dragged me and got me admitted to a hospital saying I had heart attack. They wanted to operate on me, harm me under the excuse that I have got a heart attack. But by God's grace, I am alright and did not suffer from heart attack," Nitin Deshmukh said detailing the drama that apparently unfolded post-midnight in Surat on Monday. Upon his arrival in Maharashtra, Deshmukh said he stands with Uddhav Thackeray.Deshmukh's wife had said that her husband had become unreachable from Monday night while Sanjay Raut claimed that Nitin Deshmukh was 'kidnapped' from Mumbai and was beaten up by the Gujarat Police when he tried to flee on Monday night.Nitin Deshmukh on Wednesday travelled to Guwahati but not with Shinde and the other MLAs. Deshmukh remained at Guwahati's Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi international airport for a few hours, and then, along with five Shiv Sena activists, left for Nagpur in another chartered aircraft.