Eknath Shinde wants Shiv Sena to break ties with MVA and join hands with BJP again
Eknath Shinde wants Shiv Sena to break ties with MVA and join hands with BJP again
Two-and-a-half years later, after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar’s revolt, the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government in Maharashtra looking at a similar crisis. senior minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has rebelled against Chief Minister Uddhav ThackerayDemanded the party to break ties with the MVA and join hands again with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
BJP won after hours MVA in Maharashtra Legislative Council elections on Monday nightMr. Shinde, the state’s urban development minister and leader of the Sena’s legislature party, left Mumbai with a group of legislators for Surat in Gujarat. Shiv Sena, in a quick move, removed him from the post of Legislature Party leader and appointed Ajay Choudhary, MLA from Mumbai’s Sewri region, to the post.
Mr Shinde, with whom Shiv Sena leaders Milind Narvekar and Ravindra Phatak held a meeting at a Surat hotel, reportedly asked the Shiv Sena leadership to join hands with the BJP again. Mr. Thackeray had a telephonic conversation with Mr. Shinde during that meeting. According to Shiv Sena sources, the rebel minister asked Mr Thackeray not to continue with the MVA and instead form the government with the BJP.
Leaders of two other constituents of the MVA, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, held a meeting with Mr Thackeray on Tuesday evening. Both parties have chosen to adopt a “wait and see” strategy, making it clear that Mr. Shinde’s move was an internal matter of the Shiv Sena. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said such attempts to oust the MVA from power were made earlier also. “It is an internal matter of Shiv Sena. We are together as the MVA,” Mr Pawar said, adding that cross-voting in the council elections did not put the government in danger.
The Congress, which had witnessed cross voting in the council elections as well, has decided to bring all its 44 MLAs to Mumbai. In the wake of Shinde’s rebellion, the party has sent senior leader Kamal Nath to Mumbai as an observer. HK Patil, party in-charge of All India Congress Committee, said that there would be no threat to the state government. Refuting the claims of Congress MLAs also being out of reach, Maharashtra Congress said that all the party MLAs were contacted.
Mr. Shinde along with Shiv Sena MLAs in his party reached Surat late on Monday night. The Shinde camp claims that it has the support of 34 MLAs. Refuting this, Shiv Sena sources claimed that the meeting called by Mr Thackeray at his official residence ‘Varsha’ to counter the rebellion saw the presence of 34 MLAs.
After landing in Surat and maintaining silence, Mr Shinde on Tuesday afternoon tweeted remembering Bal Thackeray, the late Shiv Sena founder. [Mr. Shinde’s] Guru, Late Anand Dighe. We are strong Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb. Balasaheb taught us Hindutva. We will never betray Balasaheb’s ideas for power and the teachings of Dharamveer Anand Dighe,” Mr Shinde tweeted, indicating his inclination towards the BJP.
Mr Shinde’s move has put the stability of the MVA government in doubt. The BJP had demonstrated by its performance in the council elections that it had the support of 134 MLAs. The majority mark in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is 145.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that ‘Operation Lotus’ will not succeed in Maharashtra as it happened in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. “All our MLAs will be back. He has been with the party in bad times. They will still be with us. some of them were threatened [in order] to go there. We are confident that they will make a comeback,” Mr Raut said.
MLA transferred to Guwahati
More than 15 MLAs from Maharashtra who had checked-in at a posh hotel in Surat late on Monday night are now reportedly being shifted to Guwahati in Assam.
According to sources, the MLAs are being taken to Guwahati by chartered jet from Surat. A BJP MLA who is reportedly camping in a hotel with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs will be taken to BJP-ruled Assam.
“The MLAs are being taken to the airport in a special bus from the hotel and from there to Guwahati by a chartered jet,” a Surat source said. Hindu,
The reason for relocating legislators is to ensure that they remain confined. According to sources, some of the MLAs had allegedly tried to escape from the hotel in Surat, but the policemen posted in the adjoining hotel did not let them out of the premises.
(with inputs from Mahesh Langa)