The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Maharashtra Governor’s decision to invite rebel leader Eknath Shinde to form the government.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has moved the Supreme Court against the Shinde government (PTI photo)
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has moved the Supreme Court yet again, this time challenging the Maharashtra Governor’s decision to invite rebel leader Eknath Shinde to form the government.
On June 30, Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari met with Shinde and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis at Raj Bhavan, during which the two submitted letters of the supporting MLAs to stake claim for government formation.
Team Uddhav has also challenged the Maharashtra assembly proceedings on July 3-4, during which the Shinde-BJP combine first appointed a new Speaker, then held a floor test in the House.
Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was on Sunday elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. He defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday comfortably won a crucial confidence vote in the state assembly, cementing his grip on power five days after assuming office with BJP support following a revolt in the Shiv Sena.
READ | Overnight rebellion within Shiv Sena to Eknath Shinde as CM, how the Maharashtra drama unfolded
Last month, Shinde (58) launched a rebellion against the Shiv Sena leadership and managed to get the support of nearly 40 MLAs of the party, enough to escape provisions of the anti-defection law, leading to the collapse of the two-and-a-half-year old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Shinde, a Shiv Sena MLA from Thane city, was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30, a day after Thackeray quit the post. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the deputy CM.
In a separate plea filed by the Uddhav Thackeray last month, the top court kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings against rebel Shiv Sena MLAs before the Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly till July 11, and also sought responses from the state government and others on their pleas questioning the legality of notices seeking their disqualification.
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