Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil on Tuesday predicted if the 16 MLAs of chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) are disqualified, then the state government would definitely fall.
Read here: Sena (UBT) asks speaker to decide quickly on MLAs disqualification
He further predicted that the Shiv Sena MLAs who joined the Shinde’s faction might join back Uddhav Thackeray after the Supreme Court termed the floor test which toppled the Thackeray-led MVA government as illegal.
“I feel if the 16 MLAs are disqualified, then the Shinde government will definitely fall. There is a possibility that the remaining MLAs with the Shinde group might join Uddhav Thackeray. There is also a possibility that since BJP is the largest party in numbers the Governor may approach them and if they have numbers then they could form government”, he told ANI.
However, NCP leader Ajit Pawar made a contrary statement to that of Patil and said that disqualification of 16 MLAs won’t actually topple the state government. “Even if 16 MLAs are disqualified, the government of Shinde and Fadnavis will not fall. There is no threat to the government,” he said on Monday while addressing a press conference in Mumbai.
A delegation of the Shiv Sena (UBT) handed over a 79-page letter to the Maharashtra Deputy Speaker seeking quick action in the disqualification of 16 MLAs following the Supreme Court’s verdict.
The ruling coalition of Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) currently has 145 MLAs while the overall coalition has 162 MLAs, 17 more than the majority mark in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.
Read here: Uddhav won’t be reinstated, Guv erred in calling floor test: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court last week gave a fresh impetus to the Shiv Sena crisis. It ruled that the floor test which toppled the government was not legal and the then governor, BS Koshyari, erred as he concluded that Thackeray lost the majority in the house. It also observed that Devendra Fadnavis and the independent MLAs did not move a no-confidence motion and the governor’s “exercise of discretion was not in accordance of the law”.
The court also ruled that the question of disqualification will be decided by the speaker.
(With inputs from ANI)
