New Delhi:
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is in Goa, is likely to return to Mumbai today along with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, sources told NDTV. Team Shinde has been asked to prove its majority in the Maharashtra assembly on Monday.
Apart from the test of strength, Monday is likely to witness high-voltage action in the Supreme Court where Team Thackeray has filed petitions seeking to disqualify 15 Sena rebels, including Mr Shinde. Another petition by the new Chief Minister’s camp challenging the disqualification attempt will also be heard on Monday.
Reduced to a minority in the party founded by his father, Uddhav Thackeray, on Friday, removed Mr Shinde from the post of Shiv Sena leader in the party organisation.
In a letter issued by the party, Mr Thackeray said that Mr Shinde has been indulging in “anti-party activities” and has voluntarily given up his membership.
“In exercise of the powers vested in me as the Shivsena Paksha Pramukha, I remove you from the post of Shivsena Leader in the party organisation,” the letter signed by Uddhav Thackeray said.
While Mr Shinde has claimed that he is the leader of Shiv Sena, he never called himself Paksha Pramukh (party chief). Mr Thackeray is technically still the party chief.
The Shinde faction has declared in the Supreme Court that they are the real Shiv Sena. The rebels argue that Mr Thackeray has diluted the Hindutva ideology of his father Bal Thackeray by forming a coalition with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress instead of “natural ally” BJP.
Uddhav Thackeray resigned as the Chief Minister on Thursday after the Supreme Court refused to stay the test of strength ordered by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Soon after Mr Shinde’s swearing-in, Mr Thackeray questioned the BJP’s decision to install a “so-called Shiv Sainik” as Maharashtra Chief Minister when it did not keep its 2019 promise of rotating the Chief Minister’s post.
Addressing a press conference at Shiv Sena Bhavan, Mr Thackeray also asked the BJP not to betray Mumbai like it “betrayed” him.
