New Delhi: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed that the “death warrant” of the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has been issued and it will fall in the next 15-20 days. Speaking to reporters, Raut, a prominent leader of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), said his party was waiting for the court order and hoped for justice. The Rajya Sabha member was referring to the pending Supreme Court verdict on a batch of pleas seeking disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs (of Shinde’s party) who rebelled against the leadership.
Sanjay Raut claimed, “The government of the present Chief Minister and his 40 MLAs will fall in 15-20 days. The death warrant of this government has been issued. Now it has to be decided who will sign it.”
The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader had earlier claimed that the Shinde government would fall in February.
In June last year, Shinde and 39 MLAs rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership, resulting in the split and collapse of the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government (which also includes the NCP and the Congress).
Shinde later forged an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government in Maharashtra.
Shinde was sworn in as chief minister on June 30, 2022, with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as deputy chief minister.
The top court had last month reserved its verdict on a batch of cross-petitions filed by the Uddhav Thackeray and CM Eknath Shinde factions related to last year’s political crisis in the state.