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Mumbai, June 23: Amid a rebellion by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, party MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said the Sena is ready to quit the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra if the group of rebel legislators camping in Assam returns to Mumbai in 24 hours and discusses the issue with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Shinde is currently camping with 37 rebel MLAs of the Sena and nine independents in Guwahati, which has plunged the party-led state government into a crisis. The NCP and Congress also share power in the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation.

"You say you are real Shiv Sainiks and will not quit the party. We are ready to consider your demand provided you come back to Mumbai in 24 hours and discuss the issue with CM Uddhav Thackeray. Your demand will be considered positively. Don't write letters on Twitter and WhatsApp," Raut told reporters.

"The rebels who are out of Mumbai have raised the issue of Hindutva. If all these MLAs feel that Shiv Sena should walk out of the MVA, show guts to come back to Mumbai. You say you have issues only with the government and also say that you are true Shiv Sainiks...Your demand will be considered. But come and talk with Uddhav Thackeray," he added.

CM Thackeray had on Wednesday offered to quit the top post amid the rebellion by Shinde and later also vacated his official residence in south Mumbai before moving to his family home in suburban Bandra. 

New Delhi, June 16: Amid protests against the Centre's Agnipath scheme, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to listen to the voice of unemployed youths and don't take 'agnipareeksha (trial by fire)' of their patience by making them walk on 'Agnipath'.

Protests against the Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme for hiring jawans on a short-term contractual basis were reported from various parts of the country on Thursday.

"No rank, no pension, no direct recruitment for 2 years, no stable future after four years, no respect shown by the government for the army," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, attacking the Centre over the scheme.

"Listen to the voice of unemployed youths of the country, don't take 'agnipareeksha' of their patience by making them walk on 'Agnipath', Mr. prime minister," the former Congress chief said.

Attacking the government over the 'Agnipath' scheme, Gandhi had warned on Wednesday that it will reduce the operational effectiveness of the armed forces whose dignity and valour must not be compromised.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also hit out at the government and asked why it was making recruitment in the army its "laboratory".

The government unveiled "Agnipath" on Tuesday -- calling it a "transformative" scheme-- for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force, largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis, in a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process to bring in fitter and younger troops to deal with future security challenges facing the nation.

Under the scheme, around 46,000 soldiers will be recruited this year between the ages of 17-and-a-half years and 21 years into the three services, the Defence ministry said.

The recruitment will be based on an "all India, all-class" basis that is set to change the composition of several regiments that recruit youths from specific regions as well as castes such as Rajputs, Jats and Sikhs.

After the completion of the four-year tenure of the recruits, the scheme provides for retaining 25 per cent of each specific batch for regular service, based on organisational requirements and policies promulgated by the armed forces from time to time. 

Mumbai: Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis his deputy on Thursday, as the BJP capped the coup that unseated Uddhav Thackeray a day ago with back-to-back curveballs.

Here are latest developments:

>> "I will stay out of the government and ensure it runs smoothly," Mr Fadnavis said at a news briefing around 4:30 pm, announcing that only Mr Shinde will be sworn in later in the evening.

>> However, barely three hours later, he was seen taking oath as Mr Shinde's deputy after BJP chief JP Nadda said, "He must be Deputy Chief Minister... I will personally request him."

>> Eknath Shinde thanked PM Modi, Mr Fadnavis and other BJP leaders. "It's their magnanimity. They had a bigger mandate, yet they made me the Chief Minister. Who does that?" he said.

>> Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde met with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and staked claim to power earlier in the afternoon.

>> Uddhav Thackeray quit as Maharashtra Chief Minister yesterday, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that he must prove his majority.

>> The Shiv Sena chief was left with only 13 MLAs after the revolt that played out in three BJP-ruled states. Eknath Shinde and a group of rebels first moved to Gujarat's Surat in luxury buses. They were flown to Assam's Guwahati in chartered flights. They landed in Goa last evening to prepare for a possible test of strength.

>> Deepak Kesarkar, the spokesperson for the Sena rebels, stressed that it was ideology, and not greed for better posts, that drove them to switch sides and go with the BJP.

>> He also said the rebels did not betray Uddhav Thackeray and still have love and respect for him. "Nobody in Shiv Sena is against the Thackeray family," he said.

>> He asserted that the rebel faction is the Shiv Sena now, since Uddhav Thackeray is in a minority in the party. "It's not a question of who is the real Shiv Sena. We have the legal majority and thus ours is the legislature party," he said.

>> Despite evidence of its protection and facilitation of the rebels, the BJP denied any role in the Shiv Sena coup. Devendra Fadnavis held two meetings with the leadership during the crisis. A third meeting saw Eknath Shinde being flown from Guwahati to Vadodara for discussions with Mr Fadnavis and Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP's chief strategist.