Maharashtra political turmoil live | We are real Shiv Sena, says Shinde on disqualification demand
The Hindu
After the Bharatiya Janata Party trumped the MVA government in Legislative Council polls, the stability of the State government has come under question as senior Sena minister Eknath Shinde reportedly left Mumbai along with his group of MLAs
Days after his revolt against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, rebel leader Eknath Shinde on Thursday accepted that the entire operation is supported by a “national party”, without naming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On Thursday evening, the rebel group claimed that it had sent another letter to the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, Narhari Zirwal, with the signatures of 42 MLAs claiming Mr. Shinde was the Shiv Sena’s legislative party leader. On Wednesday, the rebel group had sent a letter with the signatures of 34 MLAs.
Also read | A recap of political events leading to formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi
The rebellion by Mr. Shinde is most significant in the outfit’s 56-year-old history as it threatens to bring down the party-led government in Maharashtra, while the other revolts took place when it was not in power in the State.
The Maharashtra council polls for 10 seats resulted in a nail-biting finish with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yet again trumping over tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) - after the Rajya Sabha polls - by winning five out of ten seats. In what could be an alarming situation for the State government, three MLAs each from Congress and Shiv Sena cross-voted in a secret ballot held on Monday.
Here are the latest updates
With the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seeking cancellation of membership of several rebel MLAs, minister Eknath Shinde, who has spearheaded the revolt against the party, has claimed that the group led by him is the “real Shiv Sena”, and also hit back saying he and his supporters will not be intimidated by the disqualification threats.