Uddhav camp leader Sanjay Raut has hit out at the Eknath Shinde Government in Maharashtra calling it illegal and formed against the Constitution after the Supreme Court said that the Shiv Sena Shinde group's Whip was illegal. This comes after the Supreme Court pulled up the Governor during the political crisis in the state but refused any relief to Uddhav Thackeray as he quit without facing a floor test.
In a big relief for the Shinde-BJP government, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Uddhav Thackeray could not be restored as Chief Minister as he resigned before the floor test.
"Status quo ante cannot be restored as Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. Hence, the Governor was justified in administering oath to Shinde with the support of the largest party BJP," the court said.
However, the top court said the Governor "erred in relying on the resolution of a faction of MLAs of Shiv Sena to conclude that Thackeray had lost support of the majority of MLAs".
The CJI-led bench made it clear that neither the Constitution nor the law empower the Governor to enter the political arena and play a role either in inter-party or intra-party disputes.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab said the Supreme Court's judgment was in favour of Uddhav Thackeray. "It is on record that there was a violation of Whip and soon they (Shinde faction MLAs) will be disqualified," Parab said.
Last year, Shinde and 39 MLAs rebelled against the undivided Sena party leadership, which eventually resulted in the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the party's split.
Shinde was sworn in as CM on June 30, a day after Uddhav Thackeray quit the post. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the deputy CM.
On February 17 this year, the Election Commission (EC) recognised the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena based on the majority in the Maharashtra Assembly. The Shinde faction has 40 MLAs in the Assembly as against the Thackeray faction's 15.