Even as uncertainty looms large over the fate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra following an intense power tussle in the Shiv Sena, leaders of the Congress and the NCP met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday evening. The meeting came hours after the Supreme Court stayed the disqualification proceedings against the rebel Sena MLAs till July 11.
“We are alliance partners. We will sit together and discuss things,” state Congress chief Nana Patole told the media outside Matoshree, the private residence of Thackeray. Congress minister and former chief minister Ashok Chavan was also present at the meeting.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said on Sunday that the MVA partners have complete faith in the leadership of Thackeray and will continue to support him till the end.
Reports suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to back the rebel camp, led by minister Eknath Shidne, and claim majority in the Maharashtra Assembly. The BJP is expected to meet Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on June 28 and claim the support of rebel Sena and other Independent MLAs camping in Guwahati, reported Times Now. The Governor may subsequently order the government to pass the floor test.
The TV report also claimed that the BJP may appoint Shinde as the deputy chief minister if it passes the floor test.
A BJP core committee meeting was held at the residence of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in the evening to discuss the political situation in the state.
“After the discussion, it was decided that we will wait and watch and a core team will come for a meeting once again, depending on the situation in the coming days. The BJP will then take a decision in the interest of the people and in the interest of Maharashtra,” party leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said.
Led by Shidne, a majority of the Sena MLAs, including nine ministers, have revolted against the party leadership and left Mumbai on June 20 night. The rebel legislators first travelled to Surat and then flew to Guwahati where they have been camping at a luxury hotel. The revolt has shattered the Sena and pushed the MVA government, of which the NCP and the Congress are the other two constituents, to the brink of collapse.
Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray claimed on Monday that 15 to 20 MLAs in the rebel camp are in touch with the party's official faction. Thackeray said these MLAs had urged the party to bring them back to Mumbai from Guwahati.
“Around 15-20 MLAs are in touch with us. They call me and other Shiv Sainiks and urged us to bring them back from Guwahati,” he said while addressing the party workers in Karjat.
The Sena, led by Thackeray's father and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had claimed that some legislators have been kidnapped or forcibly taken by the rebel camp.
“Their situation is like a prisoner, first in Surat (where the rebels landed after leaving Mumbai last week) and then in Guwahati,” Thackeray said and claimed that the Shiv Sainiks see the present crisis not as a problem but as an opportunity.
He said Uddhav Thackeray had offered Shinde the post of chief minister on May 20. “Many people told us that Congress and NCP will betray us, but our own people betrayed us. Many MLAs who were watchmen, rickshaw drivers, and paan shopkeepers... we made them ministers. On 20th May, Uddhav Thackeray offered him (Shinde) the CM post but he did drama,” Thackeray said.
Launching a scathing attack on the rebel MLAs, Thackeray said they had sold themselves when the chief minister was in hospital after a spine surgery. “When the CM was hospitalised, they (rebel MLAs) sold themselves. I would like to ask them, is there no humanity left? We trusted them,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings before the Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly till July 11, and also sought responses from the state government and others on their pleas questioning the legality of notices seeking their disqualification.
A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala also refused to pass any interim order on a vehement plea by senior advocate Devdutt Kamat, appearing for the MVA government, that in the meantime there should not be any floor test in the Assembly. The court said the state government can always approach it in case of any illegality.
