Amidst the political tension arising in Maharashtra, six more MLAs have turned sides towards the Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena faction – the length of this group has now increased to 38. However, as per law, Eknath Shinde requires 37 more legislators in order to successfully spit Shiv Sena with defecation under the anti-defection law.
Over the recent political turmoil in Maharashtra, any development seem fluid as the numbers have been changing to and fro, however, this time, the deal is likely to be sealed. In the rebel group, it were leaders such as Mangesh Kudalkar, Deepak Kesarkar, Sanjay Rathod, and Sada Sarvankar who recently joined on Thursday. Under the political crisis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra is amidst turmoil as he has only 16 lawmakers left with him, with one remaining undecided on the matter.
Recently there was a new development where the party organized a press conference, mainly on behalf of two law makers – Nitin Deshmukh and Kailas Patil. Both the leaders had gone to Surat for rebelling against the government, however, returned to Maharashtra with support for Thackeray. As per the allegations of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, both the legislators were thoroughly threatened and were soon shifted to Guwahati from Surat.
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Reiterating the same, Raut said: “Those who left are not Shiv Sena. The real Shiv Sena is what we saw on the streets of Maharashtra yesterday [Wednesday]. Our party is strong. Some MLAs [members of legislative assembly] leaving us does not mean that the organization is weak. Around 17-18 are in the custody of the Bharatiya Janata Party. We are in touch with 20 MLAs.”
By Wednesday, as per the proposed resolution document having 34 signatories, (which included signatures from independent legislators and Prahar Janshakti Party) the number of Sena lawmakers were at a standstill of 30.
However, Deshmukh returned to Maharashtra which brought down the tally to 29. By late Wednesday evening, two more Shiv Sena leaders faulted and joined the rebel camp alongside two independent legislators that took the total tally of the camp to 37. Out of the 37 members, 31 belonged to Shiv Sena.
On Thursday, Shinde claimed more Shiv Sena legislators will join in the rebel camp. He further said that the rebel group will have more lawmakers with him as they have already reached Guwahati from Surat.
The Maha Vikash Aghadi of Maharashtra is under a political turmoil. On Wednesday, Uddhav Thackeray offered a last emotional appeal to the rebel lawmakers and later threatened to pull down his government and shatter the ruling alliance.
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The rebel lawmakers are to spend another two or three days for planning future strategy and how to implement them. Once done, all members will fly to Maharashtra for upcoming developments.
