Maharashtra Political Crisis HIGHLIGHTS | MVA Govt To Chair Cabinet Meet At 1 PM On Wednesday
Maharashtra Political Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said Eknath Shinde has been removed as the party's group leader in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
Our MLAs are with us, with Congress... It's Shiv Sena's matter, they can settle themselves, their leader Uddhav Thackeray is handling the matter: Maharashtra Congress leader Nana Patole on brewing political crisis in the state
It further jolt to the MVA government and the Shiv Sena, number of dissident MLAs is increasing and by the evening two more MLAs including a female one has reached the hotel. Earlier, only 30 rooms were booked in the hotel, now 20 more have been booked.
Amid the ongoing political crisis in the state over rebellion of Eknath Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs, Maharashtra cabinet meeting will take place at 1 pm tomorrow, June 22.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's emissaries were successful in establishing contact between Thackeray and dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, but sources told news agency PTI that Shinde was unmoved and had some tough questions for the Thackeray.
Sources said that after almost one-and-a-half hour close door meeting, Milind left for Mumbai. Before leaving his statement was, "Eknath Shinde had telephonic conversation with Uddhav Thackeray.
"Even when I am still an MLA and a minister in the cabinet, how can the Chief Minister remove me as legislative party leader?" asked the rebel leader.
After Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde went incommunicado triggering a crisis in the ruling Shiv Sena, the Congress, a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, on Tuesday said all its 44 MLAs were in touch with Legislature Party leader and state revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat.
The party statement also refuted reports that Thorat had quit as CLP leader terming them "mischievous and false".
Shiv Sena leaders met the Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly Narhari Zirwal and handed over him a letter requesting to remove Eknath Shinde from the Legislative party leader's post and replace him with Ajay Chaudhary as Shiv Sena Legislative party leader.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to fly its 106 Maharashtra MLAs to Gujarat on a chartered flight, as the party fears poaching by the Shiv Sena, news agency IANS reported. Meanwhile, in the evening another seven Shiv Sena MLAs landed in Surat. They were flown from Delhi to Surat.
Party sources told IANS that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda will be flying to Ahmedabad. Sources also said that former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadanvis will have a meeting with Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde after landing in Surat. After that both will fly to Ahmedabad, where they will discuss future plans with senior leaders.
Gandhinagar | I came to know in the morning that some MLAs have come to Surat. I have not met any of them but the way BJP got votes in Rajya Sabha and MLC polls shows that MLAs (of Maha Vikas Aghadi) are upset: Union Minister Bhagwat Karad on Maharashtra political situation
The way attempts are being made to topple govt in Maharashtra shows that BJP is power-hungry: Congress's Harish Rawat on brewing political trouble in Maharashtra after Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and some others went unreachable, earlier today
"Our alliance is with Shiv Sena, what's happening in their house is Shiv Sena's responsibility and Uddhav Thackeray will look into it. Our government (in Maharashtra) will continue...Even BJP can't form government, they can buy some people to create instability but won't succeed," Rawat
All Congress MLAs are in touch with State President Nana Patole and Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat and whatever news is there regarding the MLAs being not reachable is completely baseless: Maharashtra Congress
The news related to the resignation of Balasaheb Thorat from the post of Congress Legislature Party leader is also wrong as he is keeping an eye on the whole situation from his residence: Maharashtra Congress
The MVA strength is: Shiv Sena (55), NCP (53) and Congress (44), and with the support of smaller parties and independents, the ruling alliance commands around 169 legislators.
The BJP has 106, plus the support of smaller parties and independents giving a strength of around 114.
In the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, the mid-way mark is 144, while the current strength is 287 as one Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke of Mumbai, passed away recently.
Besides the MVA-BJP, there is a significant 29-strong group of MLAs who are independents or from smaller parties who have become important for both the ruling and opposition side.
There's a sort of storm that has come up in Maharashtra's politics. If a storm comes, then it will calm down and will recede as well. In the coming days, the situation will become normal again: State minister & NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal on political situation in state
Our government is rock solid in Maharashtra, all Congress MLAs, and our alliance is firm. As far as Shiv Sena is concerned, their chief Uddhav Thackery will successfully bring a solution...: Congress's Deepender Hooda on Shiv Sena MLAs and Eknath Shinde currently unreachable
Currently in the eye of a brewing political storm, senior Shiv Sena leader and Minister Eknath Shinde made a telling tweet indicating his 'rebellious' mood, here on Tuesday.
"We are Balasaheb (Thackeray)'s staunch Shiv Sainiks. Balasaheb has taught us Hindutva. We have never and will never compromise on the teachings of Balasaheb and 'dharmaveer' Anand Dighe for power," said Shinde in a tweet in Marathi.
"We will soon find a way out this situation. The CM's post is Shiv Sena's, Deputy CM's is NCP's. Whatever Shiv Sena will decide, we are with them," Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said.
Meanwhile, referring to the allegations of cross-voting during the recently concluded voting for biennial elections to 10 seats of Maharashtra Legislative Council, Pawar said, "This is not the first incidence of cross-voting."
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday that it was never conveyed that Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde had chief ministerial ambitions, adding that a solution to the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra would be found out soon.
"Shinde never conveyed (to us) that he wanted to be the Chief Minister (of Maharashtra). The Chief Minister's post is Shiv Sena's and this is an internal issue of that party," Pawar told mediapersons ahead of the opposition meeting to finalise a consensus candidate for the Presidential poll.
In a recent reaction, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar has said that it is Shiv Sena's responsibility to convince Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs who have camped up at a hotel in Surat.
Background
Maharashtra Political Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: A political crisis broke out in Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Tuesday after Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde and some MLAs of the party went incommunicado and are reportedly camping in Surat, a day after suspected cross-voting in MLC polls, putting a question mark on the stability of the ruling dispensation.
Reacting to the development, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said Eknath Shinde has been removed as the party's group leader in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He has been replaced with Ajay Choudhury.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil ruled out any link of his party to the ongoing political developments but also said the BJP would "definitely consider" a proposal if it comes from Shinde to form a government.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said there is an attempt to pull down the Maharashtra government, which he said is happening for the third time. He also said that Uddhav Thackeray will handle the situation which is an internal matter of the Sena.
As per latest updates, Shinde has recently remove Shiv Sena from his Twitter bio and a massive political drama is expected to take place in Maharashtra anytime soon.
Interestingly, in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, Shiv Sena has 55 MLAS, NCP (53), Congress (44), Bahujan Vikas Agahdi (three), Samajwadi Party, AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti Party two each. MNS, CPI-M, PWP, Swabhimani Paksha, Rashtriya Samaj Party, Jansurajya Shakti Party and Krantikari Shetkari Paksha have one MLA each. There are 13 independent MLAs. The opposition BJP has 106 MLAs.
Leaders of NCP and Congress, the other constituents of the MVA, however, asserted that there is no threat to the stability of the state government.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray even called an urgent meeting with party legislators and leaders at 'Varsha', his official residence in Mumbai.
The development comes hours after MVA suffered a setback in the Legislative Council polls, results for which were announced on Monday night.
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