Mumbai: Amid the ups and downs in Maharashtra’s political drama, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday took a jibe at the Eknath Shinde-led faction of rebel MLAs and asked how long they would hide in Guwahati in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Assam. He will have to return to Mumbai. The political turmoil in Maharashtra began with a faction war in the Shiv Sena when minister Eknath Shinde accompanied some MLAs to Surat and then to Guwahati, where he claimed the support of 38 of the party’s MLAs, thus securing a two-thirds majority. Shiv Sena.
“How long will you hide in Gauhati… Aana hi milega Chowpatty mein (How long will you hide in Guwahati, you have to come back to Chowpatty),” Raut said on Twitter.
How long will you hide in Gauhatime?
I have to come.. in the square. pic.twitter.com/tu4HcBySSO— Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) 26 June 2022
According to sources, Maharashtra Deputy Speaker Narhari Jirwal has sent notices to 16 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs. The MLAs are to be present in Mumbai on Monday for the disqualification hearing. Notably, Zirwal had earlier approved the appointment of Ajay Choudhary as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party, replacing Shinde, the state cabinet minister, who had rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership. Jirwal also rejected Shinde camp’s suggestion to appoint rebel Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip of the legislature party in place of Sunil Prabhu.
read also, Assam minister Ashok Singhal meets rebel Shiv Sena MLAs at Guwahati hotel
Interestingly, the Shinde faction named its group ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’. Naming the group after Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray attracted a sharp reaction from the Uddhav faction as the chief minister said those leaving the party should not seek votes in the name of the party’s founder. Sanjay Raut said, “Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that leaders leaving Shiv Sena should not seek votes in the name of Shiv Sena and Balasaheb Thackeray. Ask for votes in the name of your father. Maha Vikas Aghadi is united.” Earlier
“People will know by evening what action will be taken against those who leave the party. The work done by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is commendable. We will all fight the elections under his leadership,” he said.
Eknath Shinde claims to have the support of 38 of the 56 Shiv Sena MLAs, which is more than two-thirds of the party’s strength in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. This means they can either quit 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 his faction has a two-thirds majority, while he ruled out merger talks with any party. We have a two-thirds majority for the path we wanted to follow. Our new leader is elected by majority vote. He did not have more than 16-17 MLAs. Separate recognition will be given and we are not merging with any other party. Our faction should be recognized, if it is not given, we will go to court and prove our existence and numbers. We have numbers, but we respect CM Uddhav Thackeray, we will not speak against him. We should follow the path on which we fought the assembly elections.”
Notably, Eknath Shinde was recently unanimously elected as the leader of the faction that is rebelling against the Uddhav faction. The Uddhav Thackeray faction recently submitted a petition before the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Zee News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)