Shortly after Uddhav Thackeray offered to quit as Maharashtra Chief Minister and extended an olive branch to rebel party MLAs, Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said Shiv Sena and Shiv Sainiks weakened even as ruling alliance partners Congress and NCP got a boost.
In a tweet in Marathi, Shinde said “it is essential to get out of the unnatural front for the survival of the party and Shiv Sainiks” adding the decisions made are taken in the interest of Maharashtra.
Shinde’s remarks come shortly after the rebel leader, camping in Guwahati, claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party.
The resolution passed by the rebel camp led by Shinde has named Sena MLA Bharat Gogawale as the new chief whip of the party and removed incumbent Sunil Prabhu from the post. The letter issued by the Shinde camp stated that the Sena leadership’s decision to sever ties with BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra polls had a “negative” impact on the party cadres and voters.
The letter also alleged that Sena’s core ideology of Hindutva and protecting the rights of the “Marathi manoos” were compromised upon while forming the MVA government with “ideologically opposite” NCP and Congress. The Shinde-led faction described the Maha Vikash Aghadi as a “corrupt government”. The letter alleged “enormous discontent” amongst the cadres of the Shiv Sena for forming a government with NCP and the Indian National Congress (in November 2019), saying they are ideologically opposed to Sena.
As the Maharashtra political crisis threatens to bring down the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition government of two-and-a-half years, an emotional Thackeray in a live webcast said he was ready to step down if the rebel leader and MLAs supporting him, declare that they don’t want him to continue as CM.
“Why make statements from Surat (where rebels headed first on Monday night) and other places. Come and tell me on my face that I am incompetent to handle the post of Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president. I will resign immediately. I will keep my resignation letter ready and you can come and take it to the Raj Bhavan,” he said.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly. According to the provisions of the anti-defection law, a merger requires the consent of two-thirds of the members of a legislative party who have consented to merge with another political party.
Shinde will have to ensure the support of 37 MLAs (two-thirds of 55 MLAs) to avoid disqualification.
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