The Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra is facing an unprecedented crisis with rebel Shiv Sena leader and state minister Eknath Shinde claiming support of 40 MLAs.
Shinde, who arrived at the Guwahati airport, spoke to reporters for the first time since his decision to rebel against his own party. On late Monday night, Shinde had left Mumbai with several Sena MLAs and stayed at a hotel in Gujarat’s Surat city.
Shinde, while claiming the support of 40 Shiv Sena MLAs, said that another 10 MLAs will join him soon. He needs the support of at least 36 MLAs to split the Shiv Sena without attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law because two-thirds of the strength of the party in the House comes to 37.
However, top sources within the Maharashtra government indicate that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is confident of being able to contain the storm in his party. Shiv Sena has claimed support of 25 MLAs into its camp, with some more expected to join by Wednesday morning. Two more unwell MLAs have also expressed their support to the party, taking the total to 27.
The shocker comes just days after the ruling coalition suffered setback by the BJP in Maharashtra Legislative Council polls. Despite being short on numbers, the opposition BJP managed to get its ‘extra’ contestant elected as MLC, trouncing the Congress’ first preference candidate.
After the MLC election results, NCP had accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading and “working secret pacts”, while former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the results have exposed unrest among ruling coalition MLAs.
The MLC election results have proved to be the second major setback for the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition after the Rajya Sabha polls. The BJP had, under similar circumstances, bagged three Rajya Sabha seats, while the ruling alliance secured three, with one each for Sena-NCP-Congress, while the Sena’s second candidate was defeated.
As Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress rush to firefight their latest crisis, News18.com takes a look at the current numbers in the Maharashtra Assembly and how the Uddhav Thackeray government is placed.
Before Rajya Sabha Elections: Before June 10, the Uddhav Thackeray government had the support of 170 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly.
After Rajya Sabha Elections: Cross-voting against the second Sena candidate in the RS polls meant the party’s support came down from 171 to 162 MLAs.
After MLC Elections: BJP managed to pull off the election of an additional candidate at the expense of the Congress in the Legislative Council elections. Cross-voting again hit the MVA coalition hard as it reduced the MLAs voting in its favour to 151.
Magic Mark: The total strength of the Assembly is 288 but with the death of Shiv Sena’s Ramesh Latke and jailed NCP MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Mailk barred from voting, the effective strength is down to 285. This makes 143 the majority mark.
Current Numbers: The Uddhav Thackeray government, which is claiming the support of at least 25 MLAs, will have the support of 120 MLAs, 23 short of the majority mark. On the other hand, the Eknath Shinde camp, claiming of at least 40 Shiv Sena MLAs, with the support of BJP (106 MLAs) could easily cross the magic figure and topple the government.
If the BJP manages to enlist the support of the Eknath Shinde camp, who claims support of significant numbers, Maharashtra may enter another political upheaval.
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