Amid Eknath Shinde's rebellion, Thane Shiv Sena headquarters, once the seat of Anand Dighe, wears deserted look

Thane, Amid the rebellion in the Shiv Sena by senior leader Eknath Shinde on Tuesday, the party's Thane unit headquarter, the seat of the former's mentor late Anand Dighe, wore a deserted look with just a handful of workers and some policemen present. The party's office at Tembi Naka here, called 'Anand Math' in memory of the wildly popular Dighe, is otherwise a busy place, with scores of workers mobbing it at most times of day.

Dighe's death in a hospital here in 2001, of a heart attack while recuperating from injuries suffered in an early-morning road accident, had led to large scale violence and arson in the city.

Sena leaders from Thane, the bastion of Shinde, admitted, albeit off the record, that the turn of events since the early hours of the day, with their "saheb" at the centre, were confusing.

Meanwhile, the residences of several MLAs from the Thane-Palghar belt, believed to be with Shinde in Surat in neighbouring Gujarat, have been provided police security to avert any untoward incident, officials here said.

Police also visited the residence of Shinde here as part of a security check, while Sena sources said his Lok Sabha MP son Dr Shrikant Shinde is out of the country.

Sources here said Shinde held a closed door meeting at the mayor's Bungalow in Upvan area here after the MLC polls on Monday and then proceeded to Surat with a sizable number of legislators.