Revolt in Sena, Maha Govt fights for survival

MUMBAI/SURAT, June 21:
Maharashtra’s ruling alliance battled its worst crisis since coming into existence in 2019 after senior Shiv Sena Minister Eknath Shinde rebelled against the party and herded some MLAs to BJP-ruled Gujarat, putting a huge question mark on the stability of the two-and-a-half-year old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched a damage control exercise and sent an emissary to Surat, where Shinde is camping with dissident Sena MLAs in a hotel, to meet the rebel leader and also spoke to him over the phone to try defuse the crisis, which erupted hours after the Legislative Council polls, which saw the opposition BJP managing to get its fifth candidate elected, possibly due to cross-voting in its favour from the ruling bloc besides support from Independents and MLAs of other parties.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut claimed 14 to 15 Sena MLAs, including some Ministers, are with Shinde in Gujarat’s Surat city. However, another party leader said the number could be 23. Raut alleged two of the MLAs, including Nitin Deshmukh, have been beaten up and he has suffered a heart attack.
The Shiv Sena, which heads the MVA, has 55 MLAs, followed by allies NCP (53) and the Congress (44) in the 288-Assembly where the current simple majority mark is 144. There is one vacancy due to the death of a Sena MLA last month. The current strength of the Assembly is 287. Fifteen independent legislators and MLAs from smaller parties support the MVA government, taking the number to 167.
The BJP has 106 MLAs of its own and is backed by one lawmaker each from the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, the Swabhimani Paksh, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, the Jan Surajya Party and six independents, taking its tally with allies to 116.
To circumvent the anti-defection law, Shinde, considered No. 2 in the party, will need two-thirds of the 55 Sena MLAs which comes to 37, on his side.
The crisis comes in the backdrop of repeated reverses faced by the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation in polls – first in the June 10 elections to the Rajya Sabha and then the Legislative Council, results of which were declared on Monday night.
The jolt from Shinde, known to be a very accessible leader with a strong grip on the organisation, especially in Thane, Palghar and Gadchiroli districts, left the party scrambling.
The sudden disappearance of Shinde and some party MLAs prompted Chief Minister Thackeray to call an urgent meeting of party legislators and leaders at ‘Varsha’, his official residence, in south Mumbai.
All through the day, party managers engaged in establishing communication with the rebel leader, who went incommunicado on Tuesday morning and later surfaced in a luxury Surat hotel, but nothing concrete seems to have come out so far.
Thackeray sent his confidant Milind Narvekar and Shinde’s close aide Ravindra Phatak to mollify the leader. Later, a leader close to Thackeray said the CM spoke to Shinde over the phone, but did not elaborate further. (PTI)