Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray virtually addresses the people of the state, in Mumbai, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. (PTI Photo)Maharashtra Political Crisis Highlights: Speaking about the latest political controversy within the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that if Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stuck to the original deal of making a Sena leader CM for 2.5 years there would have been no MVA and a BJP leader would have been CM today. “About what happened yesterday, I had told Amit Shah earlier as well that there should be a Shiv Sena CM for 2.5 years (during Shiv Sena-BJP alliance). Had they done this earlier, there would’ve been no Maha Vikas Aghadi,” he said.
A special two-day session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly will commence here from July 3, officials said on Friday. A communique issued by the state legislature secretariat to the members of the assembly said the election to the post of the Speaker of the House will be held on July 3. Nominations for the post will be accepted till 12 noon on July 2.
The Supreme Court is set to hear on July 11 a set of pleas, including one filed by the Shiv Sena, seeking the disqualification of the rebel party leaders, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Shiv Sena’s Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu on Friday moved the apex court seeking their suspension from the House, till a final decision is taken on their disqualification. Prabhu has also sought an order restraining them from entering the Assembly.
Shinde was sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday, by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)
After the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, there is now uncertainty over the future of the MVA – a coalition of three parties, the Uddhav-led Sena, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress.
The key question that hangs over the MVA’s fate is, whether the triad coalition could work in electoral politics if it had only limited success in government that fell after completing barely 31 months. Read more
Eknath Shinde govt to face floor test on July 4, says official.
Mumbai BJP chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha called upon everyone to be a part of the victory celebrations at 2 pm at the Maharashtra Pradesh Karyalaya at Nariman Point today.
Addressing a press briefing, rebel camp spokesperson Deepak Kesarkar asserted that Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde has resolved to make Maharashtra free of farmer suicides. He also mentioned that Shinde is going back to Mumbai to chair a meeting of disaster management because of flooding in Mumbai.
According to sources, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde has spoken to MNS chief Raj Thackeray and asked his MLA to be a part of the cabinet. Sources said that he has offered at least one cabinet berth to MNS.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde after meeting rebel MLAs has left the Goa hotel. He will be heading to Mumbai where he will hold key meetings.
Maharashtr CM Eknath Shinde paid tributes to to former CM Vasantrao Naik on Friday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated Rahul Narvekar for the post of Maharashtra Assembly speaker. He has filed his nomination papers today.
Uddhav Thackeray said: 'The manner in which Govt has been formed and a so-called Shiv Sena worker (Eknath Shinde) has been made CM, I had said the same to Amit Shah. This could've been done respectfully in 2019 after assembly elections. The Shiv Sena was officially with you (at that time). This CM (Eknath Shinde) is not a Shiv Sena CM. There cannot be Shiv Sena's CM when Shiv Sena is not there."
The former Maharashtra CM went on to add: “Don't project anger for me on Mumbaikars. Don't change the proposal for the metro shed. Don't play with the environment of Mumbai. If you are angry on me, hurt me not the Mumbai and the environment. Consider the proposal of having Metro 3 carshed at Kanjurmarg. Don't insist on making the carshed at Aarey.”
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Speaking about the latest political controversy within the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that if Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stuck to the original deal of making a Sena leader CM for 2.5 years there would have been no MVA and a BJP leader would have been CM today. “About what happened yesterday, I had told Amit Shah earlier as well that there should be a Shiv Sena CM for 2.5 years (during Shiv Sena-BJP alliance). Had they done this earlier, there would’ve been no Maha Vikas Aghadi,” he said.
Speaking about the recent political crisis in Maharashtra, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that if Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stuck to the original deal of making a Sena leader CM for 2.5 years there would have been no MVA.
"About what happened yesterday, I had told Amit Shah earlier as well that there should be a Shiv Sena CM for 2.5 years (during Shiv Sena-BJP alliance). Had they done this earlier, there would've been no Maha Vikas Aghadi," he said.
Addressing the media on Friday, Uddhav Thackeray urged the new Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to refrain from reversing the Aarey Shed Plan. CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, in their first Cabinet meeting held after assuming power on Thursday, overturned the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led government’s decision of moving the Metro 3 car shed from Aarey in Mumbai.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said a new government in Maharashtra under Eknath Shinde has been formed by the BJP with a group of MLAs that split the party, and asserted that the Sena is where the Thackerays are.
Taking a dig at Deputy Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Raut said had the BJP stuck to its word in 2019, it could have had the CM's post for two-and-a-half years and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) experiment involving his party, the NCP and the Congress would not have taken place. What has the BJP achieved, Raut asked after Fadnavis took charge as the deputy chief minister. "We will try to expand our party under Uddhav Thackeray.
A group split from the Sena has formed the government with the BJP," Raut told reporters. He was responding to a question whether the new government under Eknath Shinde is a Shiv Sena-BJP government. Raut stressed that Shinde's move of splitting the Sena will not weaken the party. Springing a surprise, Fadnavis on Thursday announced that Eknath Shinde, who is leading the rebel Sena MLAs group, will be the chief minister. (PTI)
Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has arrived at Sena Bhavan, where he will be addressing the media.
A special two-day session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly will commence here from July 3, officials said on Friday.
A communique issued by the state legislature secretariat to the members of the assembly said the election to the post of the Speaker of the House will be held on July 3. Nominations for the post will be accepted till 12 noon on July 2.
During the cabinet meeting held on Thursday chaired for the first time by Eknath Shinde, soon after he took over as the new chief minister of the state, it was decided that the special session of the assembly will be held on July 2 and 3. However, the dates have been rescheduled. A trust vote is also likely to be held during the session. (PTI)
A Special Session of the Maharashtra Assembly is to be held on July 3 and 4, ANI reported. The nomination for the Speaker's election will be filed on July 2, while the election will take place on July 3. A Vote of Confidence will follow on July 4.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday arrived at the Enforcement Directorate Office in Mumbai in connection with the Patra Chawl land scam case.
The Supreme Court is set to hear on July 11 a set of pleas, including one filed by the Shiv Sena, seeking the disqualification of the rebel party leaders, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Shiv Sena’s Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu on Friday moved the apex court seeking their suspension from the House, till a final decision is taken on their disqualification. Prabhu has also sought an order restraining them from entering the Assembly.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said his elevation to the top post is due to the masterstroke by BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. “People thought that the BJP was desperate for power.
But truly, this is a masterstroke by Devendra ji. To hand over power to another person despite having larger numbers (of MLAs) requires a big heart. “With his decision, people of the state and the country got to see a new example of this large heartedness,” Shinde said after he and Fadnavis were sworn in as CM and Deputy CM respectively at Raj Bhavan Thursday evening. (PTI)
A day after Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra, replacing Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut insisted that the party had not been weakened. "I don't think our organisation ever weakened...Nobody is upset," he told ANI.
Shiv Sena’s Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking suspension from House of Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and 15 other MLAs against whom disqualification petitions are filed, till a final decision is taken on their disqualification. Prabhu has also sought an order restraining them from entering the Assembly.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, in their first Cabinet meeting held after assuming power on Thursday, overturned the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led government’s decision of moving the Metro 3 car shed from Aarey in Mumbai.
It was also decided in the Cabinet that a special session of the state legislature will be convened on July 2 and 3 in Mumbai, when the test of majority and election of the Speaker will be conducted. Fadnavis directed the urban development department officials to bring a proposal for building the car shed at Aarey before the Cabinet.
He added that the 33-km long underground Metro project between Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ was stuck because of a legal wrangle over the Kanjurmarg plot, where the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had proposed to build the car shed. Read more.
In a surprise turn of events Thursday, Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra and BJP leader and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Shinde became the 20th Chief Minister of the state a day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray resigned as CM ahead of a floor test, bringing to an end the 31-month rule of his Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.
What came as a surprise was the about-turn by Fadnavis. Shortly after he told a press conference that he would not be a part of the government, the central leadership of the party said Fadnavis would be joining the government. Read more.
The political developments in Maharashtra — from sequestering of the Eknath Shinde-led rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, to the swearing-in of the new government on Thursday – were closely worked out by the BJP central leadership, with even key player Devendra Fadnavis not aware of the finishing touch, party sources said.
This is why the unusual sequence of events in Mumbai Thursday: first, Fadnavis’s surprise announcement that Shinde would be CM, and that he would not be part of the government; then, BJP president J P Nadda’s public statement, quickly seconded by Amit Shah, that, no, Fadnavis would be Deputy CM. Such public display of confusion is not known in a party with its strict emphasis on planning and discipline. But if Fadnavis appeared to be not in the know, sources said, the BJP kept Shinde in the loop throughout. Read more.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Thursday took a jibe at BJP and Devendra Fadnavis by congratulating the newly appointed Deputy CM on becoming the 'first Agniveer of the country'. The comments hits out both at the centre's Agnipath scheme and Fadnavis's demotion to the deputy CM chair.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s “over-reliance” on Eknath Shinde was one reason for the current political predicament facing his party. Pawar also said the biggest challenge for the Eknath Shinde government was to gain credibility in the eyes of Maharashtra’s people, in view of the circumstances in which it came to power.
The NCP chief said Devendra Fadnavis is “visibly unhappy” on becoming the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, and has been forced to accept the post due to pressure from party bosses.
“I believe that Uddhav Thackeray’s working style is such that if he has faith in someone, he gives him complete autonomy to work. We saw that Uddhav Thackeray had given complete responsibility of operating the legislative wing as well as the party to Eknath Shinde. He handed him the leadership. I do not know if this is the cause of what has now transpired,” Pawar said. (Read more)
Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday became a fourth Maharashtra politician who accepted a junior position in a government after having served as chief minister. Fadnavis, earlier in the day, made a stunning announcement that rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde would be sworn in as the new chief minister following the collapse of the Uddhav Thackery government, and he himself would not be part of the ministry.
Fadnavis was chief minister for full five years from 2014 to 2019. After the 2019 Assembly elections, as the Sena fell out with the BJP, Fadnavis became chief minister again with the support of a group of NCP MLAs led by Ajit Pawar, but had to resign within three days as they could not muster the numbers.
A former chief minister accepting a junior post in a subsequent government is rare, but Maharashtra has witnessed such situation in the past. Congress leader Shankarrao Chavan became chief minister in 1975 and served for two years, before being replaced by Vasantdada Patil. In 1978, Sharad Pawar, a minister in Patil cabinet, brought down the government and became chief minister. Chavan became finance minister in the Progressive Democratic Front government led by Pawar. Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar was the chief minister of Maharashtra from June 1985 to March 1986. Years later, he became revenue minister in the Sushilkumar Shinde government in 2004.
Narayan Rane, then with the Shiv Sena, became Maharashtra Chief Minister in 1999 and served for less than a year. Later, after he had left the Sena to join the Congress, he became revenue minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government. (PTI)
Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Thursday demanded that his Republican Party of India (Athawale) be given a berth in the Eknath Shinde-led government. Athawale said it was expected that BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis will take oath as the chief minister after the fall of the Shiv Sena-led MVA government on Wednesday following a rebellion by Shinde.
But by taking "an ideal decision" of announcing Shinde as the chief minister despite the BJP having more MLAs, Fadnavis has emerged as a "kingmaker", the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said. (PTI)
Shivsena leader and erstwhile CM of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, congratulated Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis via Twitter today.
"Congratulations to the newly appointed Chief Minister of Maharashtra @mieknathshinde and Deputy Chief Minister @Dev_Fadnavis
G for the future. My good wishes to you and hope you undertake good work in Maharashtra" his tweet read.
Residents of Dare village(Eknath Shinde's native village in Satara) celebrated his win in the village today. He will be the seventh CM from the western Maharashtra region.
Yashwantrao Chavan who was elected to state assembly from Karad North in Satara district became the first chief minister of the state in 1960 while Prithviraj Chavan became the chief minister in 2010 and was then Member of Legislative Council. Bhosale and Shinde have their native villages in Satara district but have been elected from Kurla in Mumbai and Kopri-Pachpakhadi in Thane district respectively.
PM Modi took to twitter to congratulate Fadnavis and Shinde for swearing-in as Deputy CM and CM respectively. The ceremony took place at Vidhan Sabha today.
Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, took to twitter to congratulate Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis.
Devendra Fadnavis swears-in amidst massive cheering by supporters. The swearing-in ceremony concludes at Rajya Bhawan in Mumbai.
Eknath Shinde mentions Balasaheb Thackeray and Anand Dighe in his swearing-in speech. Eknath Shinde swears in amidst the presence of his supporters.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari reaches Darbar Hall. The oath-taking ceremony of Eknath Shinde shall commence shortly. Eknath Shinde is greeted amid chants of 'Har Har Mahadeo' to swear in.
The BJP party high command has declared that Devendra Fadnavis shall join Maharashtra government. Prior to this, PM Modi called Devendra Fadnavis twice reportedly to communicate the party's decision.
Maharashtra Chief Minister-designate Eknath Shinde arrives at Raj Bhawan for the swearing-in ceremony.
Amit Shah tweets, "On the behest of BJP President Shri @JPNadda ji, Shri @Dev_Fadnavis ji has taken a big heart and decided to join the government in the interest of the state of Maharashtra and the people. This decision is a sign of his true loyalty and service towards Maharashtra. For this I heartily congratulate him."
Supporters of Maharashtra CM-designate Eknath Shinde were seen celebrating in Nashik after his name was announced as the Chief Minister of the state.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J P Nadda on Thursday said that the central leadership has directed that Devendra Fadnavis should be a part of the new government in Maharashtra as the deputy chief minister.
Nadda's directive comes in the backdrop of Devendra Fadnavis stating earlier in the day that he will not be a part of the Eknath Shinde cabinet and how he would monitor the government and facilitate it's smooth functioning.
From working in a beer brewery in Thane and driving an autorickshaw to make ends meet, to becoming the most powerful leader in the Shiv Sena after the Thackerays, to splitting the party and becoming Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, 58, has had an eventful career.
In this crisis, two other qualities helped Shinde prevail: the fact that he has the loyalty of many party MLAs for being an accessible leader – especially when appointment at Matoshree got tough – and being generous with economic largesse.
The Shinde family originally belongs to Satara district and moved to Thane in the ’70s when Shinde was just a child. His start was with odd jobs, at places such as a beer brewery and fishery, apart from his stint as an autorickshaw driver, before he began his association with the Shiv Sena in the ’80s. (Read more)
The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the petitioners in a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the immediate return of Eknath Shinde and other rebel Maharashtra ministers to deposit Rs 1 lakh to prove bonafide and as a precondition for hearing their plea.
“Prima facie we find PIL is politically induced and made without requisite research before invoking PIL jurisdiction,” a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Makarand S Karnik noted.
The bench was hearing the PIL, filed on June 27 by seven people through advocates Asim Sarode and Ajinkya Udane, which claimed that the citizens’ fundamental rights were ignored since ministers neglected their duties. (Read more)
Moments after BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis announced Eknath Shinde to be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra, celebrations took over the rebel Shiv Sena faction and Shinde's supporters. His supporters can be seen celebrating outside Vidhan Bhavan. Shinde alone will take oath of office at 7.30 pm.
A day after Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Maharashtra chief minister, his estranged cousin and MNS president Raj Thackeray took a veiled dig at him through a cryptic tweet.
"When anyone misunderstands good fortune as one's accomplishment; therein begins the journey towards one's decline," the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief said. Uddhav Thackeray quit the top post following a rebellion by senior leader Eknath Shinde and majority of the party MLAs.
Raj Thackeray, who had last month asked Uddhav Thackeray not to test his party's (MNS's) patience over the issue of loudspeakers, and reminded him that power is not permanent. "No one has come with the ('tamrapat') copper plate of power. Even you have not, Uddhav Thackeray," he had said. (PTI)
With support of Amit Shah ji, JP Nadda and PM Narendra Modi, this state will see a strong, capable government which will bring out speedy development in the state
The Shivsena MLAs have fought by my side and trusted me with this role. I assure them that whatever treatment was meted out to them before shall not be repeated by me.
We will work day and night and take this State towards development. Its difficult to find a gem like Devendra Fadnavis ji. We will always appreciate his guidance and inputs even though he is not a part of the cabinet.
BJP today has a strength of close to 120. Fadnavis could have easily taken the CM role. He took the bigger role and gave this position to Balasaheb's shivsainik
With 50 MLAs taking a different side, this move needed an introspection. The issues of their independent constituencies were discussed with me which were not dealt with unfortunately before.
I was never hungry for minister positions or power. It was not easy to take decisions with a coalition government.
You witnessed the speed of development Maharashtra saw during five years of the BJP government. I assure you that Eknath Ji shall deal with development infrastructure, Maratha reservation and all the other important issues.
Today Eknath Ji shall be sworn in as CM and independents and members of BJP shall be included in the Maharashtra Cabinet. I shall not be a part of the Cabinet but will support the Government from the sides
We are not hungry for power as a party but we are fighting for Hindutva, our virtues and our ideology. Thus we took the decision to support Eknath Shinde ji.
Their demands were not accepted by Uddhav ji and Maharashtra saw the need of an alternate government. I was asked by many about the course of action in case the government falls. I replied that we will provide the people with an alternate government and not stress people with the voting process again
Shinde and other rebel MLAs could not tolerate the disrespect of Hindutva and irregular allotment of funds and wanted to break away from the coalition.
Balasaheb fought his entire life against gangsters like Dawood and in the same state a Minister was sent to jail under corruption charges and was not removed from his position.
Shivsena disrespected the mandate with BJP and formed government with Congress and Nationalist Congress party. The state has seen immense corruption since the formation of MVA government. Two Ministers(Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh) jailed for money laundering. These events were extremely saddening and a blot on Maharashtra's history.
In the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, people had not voted for Shivsena but the BJP-Shivsena coalition.
You all are aware, in 2019 vidhan sabha elections, shivsena won 56 elections , 161 seats, about 170 people were elected
It was expected that BJP Shivsena government will be formed