Maharashtra: Fadnavis to announce next move as Uddhav resigns
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray offered prayers at a temple after his dramatic late-night resignation as Maharashtra chief minister (CM) after the Supreme Court (SC) refused to stay the floor test yesterday. Meanwhile, it was celebrations galore at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp with Devendra Fadnavis most likely to become chief minister again, saying that the next move would be announced on Thursday.
- With Thackeray's resignation, the week-long political impasse in Maharashtra that started with a revolt in the Shiv Sena seems to have ended.
- The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), of which the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are parts, has also crumbled after a two-and-a-half-year stint.
- The BJP is once again set to assume power in the state with Fadnavis as the CM.
Thackeray, in a Facebook Live, said that he was not interested in playing the numbers game and that he was hurt by the rebellion in his party. He also announced that he would quit as a member of the state Legislative Council. He was accompanied by his sons, Aaditya and Tejas, to the Raj Bhawan to hand over his resignation to Governor BS Koshyari.
Asserting he would be back in the Shiv Sena Bhawan, Thackeray said, "I had come (to power) in an unexpected manner and I am going out in a similar fashion. I am not going away forever...and I will once again sit in Shiv Sena Bhavan. I will gather all my people. I am resigning as the CM and as an MLC."
After the Sena joined hands with NCP and Congress to form the government in Maharashtra, Thackeray became CM in 2019. The Sena had differences with its pre-poll ally BJP as Thackeray wanted the CM's post. Thackeray also expressed his gratitude to NCP and Congress, allies in the coalition government. Notably, with Thackeray's resignation, the floor test is now void.
Meanwhile, rebel MLA Deepak Kesarkar from the Eknath Shinde camp said that Thackeray's resignation "is not a matter of joy for us." He said that they were fighting the NCP and the Congress, instead it lead to a power struggle in the Shiv Sena. He also said that Sena leader Sanjay Raut's rising importance made Shinde uncomfortable. The rebels reached Goa on Wednesday evening.
The counsels for both sides argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Sena counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the floor test should be postponed till the deputy speaker rules on a disqualification petition filed against rebel MLAs. On the other hand, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing Shinde, referred to the SC's previous decision saying that disqualification procedures had no influence on the floor test.
