Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde interacts with supporting MLAs at a hotel in Guwahati, Thursday, June 23, 2022. (PTI)Maharashtra Political Crisis News Live Updates: With the threat of a vertical split looming over the Shiv Sena, MP Sanjay Raut warned rebel leader Eknath Shinde that such battles are either fought through law or on the roads. “If the need be, our workers will come out on the roads,” Raut said, while speaking to reporters.
CM Uddhav Thackeray, meanwhile, is set to meet the party’s district presidents later today (Friday). The meeting comes after Shinde made a list of at least 400 former corporators and a few MPs who are expected to cross-over to his side if a new government is formed.
Shinde, on the other hand, will be holding a discussion with his supporting MLAs in Guwahati to discuss the next course of action. In a late-night letter to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s Deputy Speaker, Narhari Zirwal, Shinde declared himself the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party and Bharatshet Gogawale as the Chief Whip of the party. The letter was signed by 37 MLAs which means the rebel camp has the two-thirds majority mandated under the anti-defection law.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut arrived at YB Chavan Centre, Mumbai on Friday to meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar amid the political crisis in Maharashtra which is threatening to break the MVA alliance.
Shiv Sena MLA from Chandivali, Dilip Mama Lande, Friday joined the Eknath Shinde faction. He was earlier a corporator with MNS and had joined Shiv Sena with other MNS corporators.
On Friday morning, Lande was sent to Guwahati after he joined the rebel camp.
CM Uddhav Thackeray is set to meet the party’s district presidents today (Friday) at 12 noon. The meeting comes after Shinde made a list of at least 400 former corporators and a few MPs who are expected to cross-over to his side if a new government is formed.
In a late-night letter to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s Deputy Speaker, Narhari Zirwal, Shinde declared himself the leader of Shiv Sena Legislature Party and Bharatshet Gogawale as the Chief Whip of the party.
The letter had the signatures of 37 MLAs, which means the rebel camp has achieved the two-thirds majority as mandated by the anti-defection law.
“I am enclosing herewith a copy of the Resolution dated 23 day of June 2022 regarding the reaffirmation of appointment of Mr. Eknathrao Sambhaji Shinde as the leader of our Shiv Sena Legislature Party and further appointment of Shri Bharatshet Gogawale as the Chief Whip of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party by the undersigned members of Shiv Sena Legislature Party,” the letter read.
At 3 pm on Wednesday, amid the unprecedented political crisis gripping the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)-led Maharashtra government, there was a buzz that a chartered plane with Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil on board had landed in Surat to take the three remaining MLAs affiliated to the rebel Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde to join his flock in Guwahati.
As the word spread about the Maharashtra BJP chief’s chartered flight on Wednesday afternoon, local TV channels began flashing the news of his landing in Surat. That would have evidently defined a significant role of the BJP in the Sena rebellion engineered by minister Shinde. But, subsequently, it turned out that this Patil was not the Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Bacchu Patil but actually Chandrakant Nimba Patil – the Independent MLA from Maharashtra’s Muktainagar constituency, who hails from Jalgaon.
Evidently, the mix-up happened because of a name. And, to knot things further, the entire drama was unfolding in Surat, the bastion of yet another Patil: Chandrakant Raghunath Paatil, the BJP’s Gujarat unit president. Read more
Speaking to reporters Friday, Shiv Sena MP and spokesman Sanjay Raut warned: "The Eknath Shinde faction that's challenging us must realise that Shiv Sena workers are yet to come on the roads. Such battles are fought either through law or on the roads. If need be then our workers would come on the roads."
Rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde will be holding a meeting with the supporting MLAs in Guwahati to discuss the next course of action.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday tweeted, "A senior cabinet minister of the BJP has threatened that Sharad Pawar will be blocked on the roads and will not be able to reach his home if an attempt is made to save the MVA government. The BJP should make it clear if this is its official position. This Government may survive or it may fall but Maharashtra will not accept such words against Sharad Pawar."
Raut's tweet comes after Minister Narayan Rane, in response to NCP chief Sharad Pawar's remarks on a pending a floor test, tweeted Thursday, "Sharad Pawar is threatening the (rebel) MLAs that they should come to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. They will definitely come and vote as per their will. If any harm comes to them, it will be difficult to go home."
In first public remarks after the revolt in the Shiv Sena threatened to bring down the ruling MVA coalition in Maharashtra, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said Thursday “whether this government is in a minority or not will be tested on the floor of the Assembly”.
After he met NCP legislators, Pawar said he was hopeful that the Shiv Sena MLAs would return and that the MVA, under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, would prove its majority. He blamed the BJP for the rebellion.
“When the MLAs return they will narrate the reality of how they were taken. When they come here and clarify that they are with the Shiv Sena, the majority of the MVA will be proved,” he said. Read more
After securing the support of a huge faction of MLAs, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has made a list of at least 400 former corporators and a few MPs who are expected to cross-over to his side if a new government is formed.
This is set to be a big jolt to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, as movement of corporators out of the Thackeray camp would split the party down to the shakha level and pose a challenge for the CM in resurrecting the party.
Sensing this, the Sena was forced to hold meetings at the district level on Thursday in a bid to keep the cadres intact. Read more
While they have virtually given up hopes of survival of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, Congress leaders are also increasingly worried about the fate of their own MLAs in Maharashtra.
A section of the party believes many of the MLAs are “vulnerable” and that the central leadership is taking no real interest in keeping the flock together. On Wednesday night, AICC observer Kamal Nath, sent for fire-fighting in Mumbai, returned to Madhya Pradesh after a brief stay.
Officially, the Congress said its 44 MLAs were firmly with it, with Nath claiming to have met 41 and spoken to three on the phone. Read more
Mrinal Pande writes: It is unlikely that the Assam Chief Minister, during his much publicised train journey through the affected areas, had failed to notice how inadequate the air dropping of food and relief materials was proving to be in the face of the deluge. Didn’t he point out to the organisers of this teddy bears’ picnic at the Radisson Blu how hunger and disease are stalking the beleaguered land, and that his first duty was to the citizens of Assam? Such indifference to public opinion brings to mind Herodotus, witness to the endless bloodied procession of armies during the multicultural wars and the end of Xerxes, the powerful Persian King of Kings: “The end is not apparent from the very outset.” Read more
The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition in Maharashtra appeared to be on the verge of collapse Thursday after Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray lost the support of majority party MLAs who rallied behind rebel leader Eknath Shinde and his call for ending the alliance with the “ideologically opposed” NCP and Congress.
in a tacit admission that Uddhav was no longer in control of his legislators, Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the party was ready to walk out of the MVA government.
“If you are Shiv Sainiks, if you are saying that you are not leaving Shiv Sena and that your issue is with the government, then Shiv Sena is willing to walk out of the government and MVA alliance. But first show the courage to come here and put forward your demands in front of Uddhav Saheb. Surely, it will be considered. Come back within 24 hours, we will sit with Uddhav Saheb and think on accepting your demands,” he said. Read more
While declaring Eknath Shinde as their group leader, Shiv Sena rebels on Thursday pledged support and vested absolute powers on him to take any decision on their behalf. At a meeting held in a five-star hotel in Guwahati, Shinde addressed the rebels to convey a message of political one-upmanship against Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of Shiv Sena.
A source in the Shinde camp told The Indian Express, “We are upbeat. Every step is being taken after proper deliberation. We are in know of each and every decision being made.” A senior rebel leader added, “Shinde has reassured all of us that we are going to be the real Sena.”
While the Shinde camp has garnered the required number of MLAs to bypass the anti-defection rules, he, however, is set to face legal hurdles in its way of becoming the “real” Shiv Sena. Read more
In the coming days, the prospect of a vertical split in the Sena, and the endgame for the Uddhav Thackeray government, will pose a test for the institutions of the Speaker and Governor. The Deputy Speaker — since the Maharashtra assembly does not have a full-time Speaker since 2020 — could be called upon to assess the claims and counter claims and determine the status of the Sena factions under provisions of the anti-defection law. The governor could play a critical role in resolving the political instability, even as, after the Bommai judgement in 1994, the Supreme Court has laid down that the place for deciding whether a government has lost its majority is the floor of the assembly, not Raj Bhavan. Read Express View here
The latest round of the uniquely Indian exercise of ‘resort politics’ is playing out in Assam where a five-star hotel in Guwahati has become the centre of the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra.
The MLAs led by Eknath Shinde were, at first, in a hotel in Surat in BJP-ruled Gujarat after reaching there on Monday. Afterwards, they flew to Guwahati in Assam, another BJP-ruled state, on Wednesday. Here, they have been camping at a five-star hotel which the rebel MLAs have booked for seven days, showing that it was ready for a long haul to get what they wanted.
We take a look at the cost of rooms at these properties in Gujarat and Assam to get an idea of how expensive this ‘operation’ has been for Eknath Shinde and the MLAs. Read here
In a late-night letter to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s Deputy Speaker, Narhari Zirwal, rebel leader Eknath Shinde declared himself the leader of Shiv Sena Legislature Party and Bharatshet Gogawale as the Chief Whip of the party.
“I am enclosing herewith a copy of the Resolution dated 23 day of June 2022 regarding the reaffirmation of appointment of Mr. Eknathrao Sambhaji Shinde as the leader of our Shiv Sena Legislature Party and further appointment of Shri Bharatshet Gogawale as the Chief Whip of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party by the undersigned members of Shiv Sena Legislature Party,” the letter read.
Elaborating on his earlier tweet, Eknath Shinde added: “Whom are you trying to scare. We understand the law and the farce that you are playing. As per the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, the application of a whip is limited to the functioning of legislative assembly and not for meetings. There are numerous SC rulings in this regard. We know the law and are unaffected by your threats.”
Reacting to the Shiv Sena’s move seeking disqualification of 12 MLAs in his camp, rebel leader Eknath Shinde said: “The whip, which you are citing for disqualification, is for Assembly work and not meetings. We are the real Shiv Sainiks following the principles of Balasaheb.”
The newly appointed Shiv Sena legislature party leader Ajay Choudhari met the acting speaker Narhari Zhirwal on Thursday asking him to take action against the 12 MLAs who have joined the Eknath Shinde faction for violating party discipline. Speaking to The Indian Express, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said, “We had called for two meetings on June 22 and a whip was issued by Sunil Prabhu. These MLAs were given notices and asked why they were not present. Some gave explanations, but they may be real or fake. Hence, we have sought their disqualification.”