Reacting to the Supreme Court order that it would not be able to reinstate the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, as he resigned without facing the test and the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker must decide on a disqualification petition, leaders from the Thackeray camp claims that their stance was validated.
Mr. Thackeray, reacting to the developments, said, “The Maharashtra Assembly Speaker should take the decision immediately.” “People are waiting for us to send them (NDA government) home. It’s high time to save democracy,” he added, in a joint press conference with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav.
Uddhav loyalist and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said they are happy with the Apex court’s verdict and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should resign immediately on moral grounds.
“The SC judgment says that the whip appointed by Shinde camp is illegal. This means that the original whip of Shiv Sena, Sunil Prabu of the Thackeray camp, is a legal whip… then according to the whip, the Shinde camp MLAs have been declared illicit. This decision had to be taken by the (Assembly) Speaker,” he said.
Further, he said that the court slamming the Governor’s role means that the Shinde-Fadnavis government is illegal.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC and former Minister Anil Parab said that the Apex court’s ruling had made it clear that the 16 legislators of the Shinde camp cannot escape disqualification.
“The Speaker [Rahul Narvekar] has to decide who is the whip, given that the SC has clearly said that the whip has to be decided by a political party. The whip at that time was Sunil Prabhu, so Prabhu’s instructions of the time [to disqualify the 16 Shinde camp MLAs] will stand. Secondly, Governor’s call for a floor test was illegal on the basis of a letter submitted by some MLAs,” he said, adding that first time in history, a Governor’s actions have been slammed so pointedly by the court.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Parab said that their consistent stance from the beginning has been that the current government is unconstitutional, and the manner in which the MVA government led by Mr. Thackeray was overthrown was unethical. “It is a moral victory for us,” he said.
Mr. Thackeray addressed the media at 1:15 p.m. at his Bandra residence ‘Matoshree’, while Chief Minister Shinde and his deputy Fadnavis interacted with the media at Shayadri Guesthouse at 2 p.m.
