It’s curtains for MVA govt after 10-day political drama

Mumbai: On the eve of the Supreme Court-mandated floor test to determine if the Maha Vikas Aghadi can prove its majority, Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Maharashtra Chief Minister and Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

Addressing the people via video link, Thackeray appealed to Shiv Sena activists not to take to the streets to block the return of the 39 rebel Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde to Mumbai for the floor test. He said if the rebel MLAs want to feel the joy of dragging down Balasaheb Thackeray’s son, then they should be allowed to do that, and take oath as ministers in the new government.

After contesting the 2019 assembly elections on a pre-poll alliance with the BJP, the Shiv Sena ditched its long time ally to form the government with the Congress and the NCP. Uddhav Thackeray became the first Thackeray family member to become CM and third Shiv Sena CM after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane, who served in the first SenaBJP government from 1995-1999. Shiv Sena had also shared power with the BJP in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government which came to power in 2014 and lasted its full term.

Taking dig at Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for “promptly upholding democracy” by ordering a floor test within 24 hours after BJP demanded, Thackeray said Koshyari should also decide on the appointment of 12 legislative council members. Thackeray said it was unfortunate that there were just four Sena ministers including his son Aaditya, Transport Minister Anil Parab, and Industries Minister Subhash Desai in the state cabinet that formalized the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar, in keeping with Balasaheb Thackeray’s wishes.

Thanking Congress President Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar for supporting his government, Thackeray said he had rejected a proposal from cabinet colleague Ashok Chavan to support the MVA government from the outside to accommodate the demand by Eknath Shinde camp not to be part of a SenaCong-NCP government. Minutes after the speech, Thackeray left for Raj Bhavan to hand over the resignation to the Governor. The Governor accepted the resignation and asked him to officiate as Chief Minister until alternate arrangement is made, Raj Bhavan sources said