Amid the spiralling political crisis in Maharashtra, only 13 Shiv Sena MLAs attended a meeting called by Uddhav Thackrey on Thursday, according to media reports.

However, Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut had claimed that 20 MLAs were in touch with the party.

He said only after the rebel MLAs return to Maharashtra, it would be revealed under what circumstances and pressure they deserted Uddhav Thackeray.

Meanwhile, the rebel MLAs have said they were not leaving the party. But they also clearly refused to recognise Uddhav Thackeray as the Shiv Sena chief, declaring that the whip issued by chief whip Sunil Prabhu was invalid.

With only 13 MLAs present at Uddhav Thackeray’s meeting and 40 MLAs siding with party’s rebel leader Eknath Shinde, it is being considered that he has lost the majority.

Eknath Shinde is camping in Guwahati with around 41 MLAs, according to media reports.

He tweeted a letter clearly stating why the MLAs plunged Uddhav Thackeray into the current crisis.

In the letter, a legislator accused the Maharashtra Chief Minister of shutting his doors to them and keeping them waiting for hours.

One of the MLAs said the Shiv Sena MLAs and workers were denied entry into Chief Minister’s house for 2.5 years.

Deepak Kesakar, who is among the three MLAs who joined the rebel camp this morning, said they do not want Uddhav Thackeray to resign but want to get into an alliance with the BJP and form a new government with a natural ally, reported NDTV.

Keskar said he joined the rebel camp this morning along with three others from Shiv Sena and one independent MLA.

He said two to three are expected to reach in the next few hours.

Meanwhile, Congress and Sahrad Pawar-led NCP have suggested that rebel Eknath Shinde be named as Chief Minister as a way out of the political crisis.

However, Eknath Shinde said the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition was beneficial only to Congress and NCP while the ordinary Shiv Sainiks have suffered the most in the last two-and-a-half years of the coalition’s rule.