Nine MLAs attend meeting called by Rane

Only nine Shiv Sena legislators turned up on Friday at the legislators' meeting called by Narayan Rane, in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly.

The meeting called by the expelled leader at his official residence was being attended by nine MLAs, a Rane aide said.

Police have made tight security arrangements at the venue, which was thronged by Rane supporters.

Rane had on Thursday warned that those who do not attend the meeting would loose their Assembly membership.

Earlier, on July 3, Rane had claimed support of 42 of the 63 MLAs in the Assembly.

"Besides the 22 legislators who were with me when the Sena chief was addressing the party's meeting at Bandra, 20 legislators who were present at the meeting called me after it was over and expressed their support," he had said then.

However, on Thursday the Shiv Sena had paraded 52 MLAs led by newly elected legislative party leader Ramdas Kadam in front of Kupekar at Vidhan Bhavan.

They had also submitted a copy of the resolution passed by the party that included Rane's expulsion and appointment of Kadam as the new legislative party leader.

Rane too had met the Speaker saying his expulsion was illegal and described the meeting of 52 legislators convened at suburban Bandra by party executive president Uddhav Thackeray as illegal.