Uddhav moves out of CM’s residence
Hours after meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray has vacated his official residence, the Varsha Bungalow in Mumbai and headed toward his family house Matoshree.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that Thackeray will remain the CM and that the government can prove its majority in the state Assembly.
Earlier in the day, Thackeray said it’s shameful for him that “even one MLA is against him.” “If you (MLAs) say, then I am ready to leave the CM post. It’s not about numbers but how many are against me. I will leave if even one person or MLA is against me. It’s very shameful for me if even a single MLA is against me,” he added. In a 17-minute-long webcast, Thackeray who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day, said he was ready to give up the post of Shiv Sena president as well if Shiv Sainiks feel that he isn’t capable of heading the party.
Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra was an “unnatural alliance” and it was imperative for his party to walk out of the coalition with the NCP and the Congress for its own sake and that of party workers. Shinde, camping in Guwahati, has 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, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership. 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 Shinde in the afternoon bears the signatures of 34 MLAs of Shiv Sena. Another chartered plane with four MLAs from Maharashtra arrived in Guwahati.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has made it clear that there was no proposal to recommend dissolution of the state Assembly.
Patole’s remarks came in the backdrop of reports that the ongoing political developments in the state could lead to dissolution of the Assembly.
“We will run the government effectively,” Patole said quoting Thackeray.
Patole said senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, who is in Mumbai in the wake of the political crisis in the Maharashtra government, spoke to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over phone, since the latter has tested positive for COVID-19.
Patole told reporters that Thackeray has asserted that the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA- comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) will sail through the present crisis, and there was no proposal to recommend dissolution of the state Assembly.
Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in a tweet said the ongoing political developments in Maharashtra could lead to dissolution of the state Assembly. Raut’s remarks came amid the ongoing crisis in the state’s Maha Vikas Aghadi after the rebellion by senior Shiv Sena leader and minister Eknath Shinde.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat said 41 MLAs (out of the total 44 in the state) attended the CLP meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. The three others were on their way to the state capital, he said.
“The Congress is united and all the 44 MLAs are together,” Thorat said.
Shinde has said he has 46 MLAs supporting him. “I have more numbers (of Shiv Sena MLAs) than needed (to form a separate group in the Assembly without inviting the anti-defection law provisions),” he told a Marathi TV channel.