Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar has predicted that the Shiv Sena-BJP government led by Eknath Shinde is likely to collapse in Maharashtra in the next six months. The veteran leader of Maharashtra has asked his party’s MLAs and workers to be prepared for the mid-term elections. The NCP patron made the remarks while addressing NCP MLAs and other party leaders on Sunday evening.
An NCP leader who attended the meeting quoted Pawar as saying, “The newly formed government in Maharashtra may fall in the next six months, so everyone should be prepared for the mid-term polls.”
“Pawar said that many rebel MLAs supporting Shinde are not happy with the current system. Once the ministerial portfolios are divided, their unrest will come to the fore, which will eventually result in the fall of the government,” he said.
The Maratha strongman also pointed out that the failure of this experiment would cause many rebel MLAs to return to their parent party – the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray. “If we have only six months in our hands, then NCP MLAs should spend more time in their respective constituencies,” Pawar said.
Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Thursday took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the collapse of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, while senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Shinde’s deputy.
Around 40 Shiv Sena MLAs, led by Shinde, revolted against the party leadership, resulting in the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on Wednesday.
Ahead of the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government’s floor test on Monday, another Shiv Sena MLA from the Uddhav Thackeray camp joined CM Shinde’s faction, taking their tally to 40. Shiv Sena currently has 55 MLAs in the 288-member state. Meeting.
MLA Santosh Bangar from Kalamanuri in Hingoli district joined the Shinde camp on Monday morning. Earlier, in a jolt to former CM Uddhav Thackeray ahead of the floor test of the Eknath Shinde-led government, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar had on Sunday reinstated Shinde as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party by replacing Ajay Choudhary.