As uncertainty looms over the future of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government following the rebellion of a majority of Shiv Sena MLAs, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said that his party will support Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray till the last minute.
“Eknath Shinde and other MLAs were there with the NCP in the government. They didn’t have any problems in the last 2.5 years. Why does it happen today only? It’s just an excuse. We will support CM Uddhav Thackeray till the last minute,” said Pawar. As the power tussle in the western state continued on Sunday, Pawar also said that the new alliance by the rebel MLAs hardly held any importance.
“Eknath Shinde and other MLAs who’ve gone with him (to Guwahati) have said to form a new alliance but NCP and Congress policy are clear to support the coalition government that we had formed. MVA government is there (in Maharashtra) and we want to continue supporting it,” he added.
The political turbulence in Maharashtra was triggered by the faction war in Shiv Sena after Minister Eknath Shinde flew to Surat with some MLAs and then to Guwahati where he claims of having the support of 38 MLAs of the party, thus achieving the two-thirds majority in the Shiv Sena.
Interestingly, the Shinde faction named their group ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’.
The naming of the group after the name of the Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray attracted sharp reactions from the Uddhav faction as the Chief Minister said that those who left the party should not seek votes in the name of the party founder.
Eknath Shinde claims to have the support of 38 MLAs of the 56 Shiv Sena legislators, which is more than two-thirds of the party’s strength in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. It means that they can either leave and form another political party or merge with another without being disqualified from the state assembly.
Meanwhile, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar claimed that their faction has a two-thirds majority while denying merger talks with any party.
Notably, Eknath Shinde was unanimously elected as the leader of the faction recently which is revolting against the Uddhav faction.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction recently submitted a plea before the Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs.
Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant on Sunday informed that the party has initiated legal action against rebel MLAs and notices have been served as well.