Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with his faction of MLAs have reached Mumbai from Goa where the rebel Shiv Sena legislators were camping after returning from Assam.
This comes after Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday expelled Eknath Shinde from the party for indulging in "anti-party activities".
"In exercise of powers vested in me as Shiv Sena party president, I remove you from the post of Shiv Sena leader in the party organisation," Mr Thackeray wrote in a letter addressed to the Maharashtra CM, who had led a faction of rebel Sena MLAs.
A special two-day Assembly session has been convened on July 3 and 4. While election for the speaker's post will be held on Sunday, the newly sworn-in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will face the test of strength on Monday.
Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi on Saturday filed his nomination as the Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) candidate for the post of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker, election for which will be held on July 3.
On Friday, first-time BJP legislator Rahul Narvekar had filed his nomination for the post.
Here are the Highlights on the Maharashtra Crisis:
The rebel Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLAs and Independents were taken to a starred hotel in south Mumbai in heavy security after they returned to the city from Goa in a special flight on Saturday night, police said.
Their flight landed at the Mumbai airport around 8 pm nearly 50 minutes after it took off from Dabolim airport in Goa.
A posse of police personnel was deployed along the route between the airport and the starred hotel in south Mumbai to ensure the smooth movement of buses carrying the MLAs escorted by Mumbai Police, officials said.
A group of rebel Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLAs and Independents led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday evening left for Mumbai from Goa in a chartered flight.
The MLAs, led by Shinde, left for the airport at Dabolim from the starred hotel in Dona Paula where they had been camping since June 29 in two buses.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday alleged that the BJP has made Eknath Shinde the chief minister of Maharashtra to wrest Mumbai from the Shiv Sena of Bal Thackeray.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's letter removing Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde from the post of 'Shiv Sena leader' would be challenged before an appropriate forum, said MLA Deepak Kesarkar, spokesperson of the rebel Sena group, on Saturday.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was in the loop all along and aware of the developments taking place in the State said sources on Saturday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is likely to return to Mumbai from Goa today along with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, sources told NDTV. Mr Shinde travelled to Goa last night, his second visit since taking oath.
While Mr Shinde has claimed that he is the leader of Shiv Sena and the Thackeray camp is a minority, he never called himself Paksha Pramukh (party chief). Mr Thackeray is technically still the party chief.