Uddhav quits as CM after top court allows floor test
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Maharashtra chief minister on Wednesday, minutes after the Supreme Court refused to stall a floor test that his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was set to lose, ending a crisis that erupted last week after dozens of Shiv Sena lawmakers rebelled against his authority.
With the numbers stacked against his government and the apex court allowing the floor test ordered by the governor to go ahead on Thursday at 11am, Thackeray announced his resignation as CM and member of legislative council (MLC) live on social media.
“I had come (to power) in an unexpected manner and I am going out in a similar fashion,” said Thackeray, dressed in a bright yellow kurta. “I am not going away forever, I will be here, and I will once again sit in Shiv Sena Bhawan. I will gather all my people. I am resigning as CM and MLC,” he added.
The dramatic resignation brings down the curtain on the MVA government that came together in 2019 and the focus shifts to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that is set to form the next government in the state, likely with the support of 39 rebel Sena lawmakers, led by state urban development minister Eknath Shinde. The exact contours of power sharing remain unclear but people aware of developments said Shinde will likely be sworn in as deputy chief minister with Devendra Fadnavis as the CM.
The BJP’’S imminent return to power in the state is being seen as a victory for former CM Fadnavis, and revenge for the Shiv Sena walking out of a pre-poll alliance with the BJP after the elections in 2019, and forming a government in partnership with its traditional rivals, the Congress and the NCP.
Former minister and BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “the truth prevailed, finally”. “Fadnavis always used to say that he will return to the House. Now, it’s time. He will come back as the chief minister of Maharashtra,” BJP MLA Nitesh Rane said.
The focus also shifts to the battle for the Sena itself, which will likely be played out before the Election Commission. In the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the lawyer for the Shinde faction summed up the group’s view best when referred to as a dissident group. “I am the Shiv Sena,” he said. One key question is the number of MPS of the Shiv Sena supporting the Shinde faction, which numbers 39 of the party’s 55 legislators. “We are not rebels. All of us are Shiv Sainiks. We will carry for
ward Bal Thackeray’s agenda and ideology with on Hindutva,” Shinde said at the airport before leaving for Goa. Shinde, along with the other rebels, left Guwahati – where they were camping for about a week – and landed at Goa airport at 9.45pm.
A cornered Thackeray resigned after the apex court refused to interfere in governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to call for a floor test on Thursday, a decision taken after his meeting with Fadnavis on Tuesday night. The court said that the floor test could go on but would be subject to the pending disqualification proceedings against 16 rebel MLAS.
“We are not staying the order of the floor test tomorrow. We are only issuing notices on this petition and we are saying that the result of the floor test will be subject to the outcome of the final orders of this court in these proceedings,” said a bench of justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala.
The order was delivered at 9.10pm as the bench sat to hear the matter beyond normal working hours, at 5pm, and conducted the proceedings for over three hours.
On Monday, the top court had extended the deadline for the lawmakers to respond to the disqualification notice to July 11.
After Koshyari ordered a floor test on Wednesday, Prabhu approached the top court. Clarifying that the result of the floor test shall be subject to the final outcome of the proceedings, the bench asked all parties to file their replies to Prabhu’s petition by July 11 when the petitions by the group of rebel MLAS against the disqualification notices will also be taken up.
“The question of floor test does not arise now,”said former secretary of Maharashtra legislature Anant Kalse.