Amid growing political crisis in Maharashtra, senior Shiv Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said ongoing political developments in the state could lead to dissolution of Maharashtra assembly.
"The political developments in Maharashtra are headed towards dissolution of the state Assembly," said Raut in a tweet.
Later when asked to elaborate on the tweet, Raut said, "When such a situation arises in any state, I have seen that the Legislative Assembly is dissolved."
He avoided the question on whether Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will resign.
Raut’s remarks came amid the ongoing crisis in the state’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition after the rebellion by senior Sena leader and minister Eknath Shinde, who is now camping in Guwahati, saying he has 46 MLAs supporting him.
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"I have more numbers [of Shiv Sena MLAs] than needed [to form a separate group in the Assembly without inviting the anti-defection law provisions]," said Shinde to a Marathi TV channel.
The MVA, comprising Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress have 152 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly. If Shinde and 46 MLAs that he says are with him defect, the MVA coalition would lose majority as it would bring down their numbers from 152 to 105. The majority-mark is 145.
As uncertainty lingers over the fate of the MVA coalition, the Maharashtra government held a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. It has been speculated that CM Uddhav might step down following the meeting.
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Despite Raut's grim assessment of the situation, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Wednesday said Uddhav has made it clear that there was no proposal to recommend dissolution of the state Assembly.
"We will run the government effectively," Patole said quoting Uddhav.
Patole said senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, who has been appointed All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer for Maharashtra, spoke to Uddhav over phone since he has tested positive for Covid-19.
Patole told reporters that Uddhav has asserted that the ruling MVA coalition will sail through the present crisis, and there was no proposal to recommend dissolution of the state Assembly.
Congress leader and Maharashtra minister Balasaheb Thorat says the Congress Legislative Party meeting has begun and the Cabinet ministers are going for a meeting. All the 44 MLAs of the party are with the MVA government and not for sale.
Kamal Nath said the politics BJP has started is of money and muscle power which is against the Constitution, adding unity will prevail in Sena under Udhhav.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena's dissident leader Eknath Shinde on Wednesday asserted that 40 MLAs from Maharashtra have accompanied him to Assam's Guwahati and they are committed to Balasaheb Thackeray's 'Hindutva' ideology.
Shinde along with a group of Shiv Sena and Independent legislators arrived in Guwahati early Wednesday and he initially refused to speak to the media persons waiting outside the airport.
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He later said 40 MLAs accompanied him but didn't want to make any comment on anybody.
Asked why they have come to Guwahati, he said, "It is a nice place".
Assam is currently ruled by a BJP-led government.
The rebel MLAs from Maharashtra were received at Guwahati's Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi international airport by BJP MP from Assam Pallab Lochan Das and legislator Sushanta Borgohain.
The legislators from Maharashtra were taken to a luxury hotel on the outskirts of the city in three buses of the Assam State Transport Corporation with police protection.
Asked about the developments, Borgohain said, "People known to us have come here and so we have come to receive them."
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(With PTI inputs)
