MUMBAI: Amid the political crisis in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh, who has returned to the party fold, said on Wednesday that he was with chief minister Uddhav Thackerey.
"I am with Uddhav Thackeray. I owe him my position as an MLA", said Nitin Deshmukh adding, "I appeal to the other MLAs to return and think about the people who elected them".
"I am a Shivsainik of Uddhav Thackeray and Balasaheb Thackeray. I am in good health. On Tuesday, I was taken to a hospital in Surat by 20-25 people and police personnel. They said I had suffered a heart attack but I never suffered any heart attack. My blood pressure also didn't shoot up. Their intention was wrong. I was given some injections forcibly," Deshmukh claimed further.
A day earlier, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had claimed that some MLAs accompanying Shinde to Surat were misled and "kidnapped" to Gujarat.
He had said that Nitin Deshmukh was beaten up by the police and goondas under 'Operation Kamal' in Surat when he tried to escape and suffered a heart attack.
In her complaint filed with the Akola police, Deshmukh's wife had said that her husband had become unreachable from Monday night.
Deshmukh further said: "Since Eknath Shinde was our group leader, I got into his car but we were taken to Surat. I kept trying to escape but there was a lot of police bandobast as if I was a terrorist. Finally I managed to get out of the hotel at 3am, but I was stuffed into a car by the police and taken to a hospital where I was forcibly given an injection."
(With agency inputs)
