Shinde releases a group photo of 42 MLAs backing him, but Pawar hopes MVA Govt will pull through
Amid the political crisis arising out of a massive rebellion within the ruling Shiv Sena deepening on Thursday and more MLAs joining the rebel camp, the Shiv Sena has moved a petition before the  Deputy Speaker to take action against 12 MLAs.

Rebel Eknath Shinde’s camp has claimed it enjoys the support of 42 MLAs, but NCP chief Sharad Pawar has said the MVA Government will survive and the situation will change dramatically when the rebel MLAs return to Mumbai.

The newly-appointed Shiv Sena legislature party leader Ajay Choudhari met the acting Speaker Narhari Zhirwal on Thursday and urged  him to take action against the 12 rebel MLAs for violating party discipline.

Sena leader Arvind Sawant said a whip was issued to MLAs and since they didn’t obey and gave prior notice, our party has  brought this  to the notice of the Vidhan Bhavan. “Twelve names are there in the petition submitted to Maharashtra Assembly Deputy Speaker. Membership of Eknath Shinde, Balaji Kinikar, Lata Sonawane, and Bharat Gogawle among 12 others should be cancelled. We have asked the Deputy Speaker to take action against these 12.”

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.”

Meanwhile, a  day after Uddhav Thackeray offered to quit both as the Chief Minister and party chief if the rebel party MLAs were to meet him personally and ask him to put in his papers and moved out CM’s official residence, Shinde — in a show of strength — released a group photograph of 42 MLAs supporting him taken at Radisson Blu Hotel at Guwahati, where they are camping currently.

The video that the Eknath Shinde camp circulated in the media showed the rebel MLAs sitting together and raising slogans like “Shinde Saab Tum Aage Badho, Hum Tumhare Saath Hain.”  

On a day when Uddhav Thackeray appeared reconciled to the prospect of the fall of his Government, NCP chief Sharad Pawar — who is the architect of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government — expressed optimism that the MVA dispensation would survive the current crisis facing the Shiv Sena. “Let the MLAs come back from Guwahati. The situation will change drastically. The MVA Government will survive the floor test in the State Assembly,” Pawar said.    

Reiterating his party’s support to Uddhav Thackeray,  Pawar said it was the responsibility of all the three constituents — Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress — to “save” the Uddhav Thackeray Government.

Without taking the name of the BJP, Pawar slammed the BJP for the manner it fuelled rebellion within the Shiv Sena. “Everyone knows how the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs were taken to Gujarat and then to Assam. We don’t have to take the names of all those assisting them. The Assam Government is helping them. I don’t need to take any names further,” he said.

The rebel MLAs will have to come back to Mumbai and face the Assembly, he said, adding that BJP leaders “from Gujarat and Assam will not be coming here to guide them.”

Pawar also refuted allegations by rebel Shiv Sena MLAs that they faced difficulties in getting funds for their constituencies as the Finance Ministry, which is controlled by NCP’s Ajit Pawar, discriminated against them, and the Sena has given up its Hindutva ideology.

“All these are excuses, some of these MLAs are facing a probe by Central agencies,” he said. The NCP chief also said that the rebels will have to face consequences, recalling that when Chhagan Bhujbal defected from the Shiv Sena to join the Congress in the 1990s, all his supporters except one lost the Assembly election.

“These rebels will face the same fate,” Pawar said.

Informed sources in the Shinde camp said that of the 42 MLAs camping at the Radisson Blu Hotel, 35 are Sena MLAs, while the remaining seven are Independents supporting the rebel Sena leader. The number mustered by Shinde is nearly two-thirds of the Sena’s strength of the 55 MLAs in the Assembly, a thing that will help Shinde to escape the wrath of the anti-defection law.

If the number of MLAs who leave a political party constitutes two-thirds of the parent party’s strength in the Assembly, they can merge with another party or become a separate group in the House without attracting provisions of the anti-defection law.

Bharat Gogawale, whom the rebel Sena camp appointed as its whip on Tuesday, claimed that 42 rebel MLAs were supporting Eknath Shinde. “We are expecting more Sena MLAs to join us in the coming days,” he said.

The strength Uddhav Thackeray-led has eroded markedly over the past few days. As many as 13 Sena MLAs, including Uddhav’s son Aaditya Thackeray, attended a legislature party called by the chief minister at his Bandra residence “Matoshri” where the loyal MLAs are camping currently.

The Shiv Sena camp has written to State Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Sitaram Zirwal, who has been acting as the Assembly Speaker since February 2021 in the absence of a full-fledged speaker in the Assembly, seeking recognition of their faction on the basis of its strength.

As the number of MLAs in the rebel camp swelled, the Opposition BJP – which has been working in tandem with Shinde and has contributed in a big way in fuelling the political crisis in Maharashtra – began to firm up its plans to defeat the Uddhav Thackeray government in the likely trust vote on the floor of the House and later stake claim to form the next government in the state.

Maharashtra’s former chief minister and current leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis – who has reportedly been in constant touch with Shinde – is coordinating with the BJP’s central leadership at the Centre in the party’s efforts to team up with the Sena rebel minister to form the next government in the state. Like in the past, the BJP is understood to have offered the deputy chief minister’s post to Shinde and some ministerial berths to his supporting MLAs in lieu of his joining the party or supporting the government from outside as an independent faction.

Meanwhile, in what came as a relief to the beleaguered Uddhav Thackeray-led parent Sena camp, the ruling allies – NCP and Congress – announced their support to the MVA government.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and State NCP President and minister Jayant Patil announced their party’s continued support to the Uddhav Thackeray government, while senior Congress minister Ashok Chavan and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole pledged his party’s continued support to the MVA government.

Reiterating his party’s support to Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said it was the responsibility of all the three constituents – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – to “save” the Uddhav Thackeray government.

Talking to media persons, senior NCP minister Jayant Patil said: “We had a meeting at the residence of Sharad Pawar. An assessment of events that took place during the last three-four days was done. Pawar sahib told us that we should do everything that needs to be done to ensure that the government remains. We will stand with Uddhav Thackeray, with this government”