Maharashtra Political Crisis: Requested governor to ask MVA govt to prove its majority, says Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday asked the state government to provide complete information on all Government Resolutions (GRs) and circulars issued by the state government from June 22 to 24.The directive came in the middle of the political crisis triggered by a rebellion by a large section of Shiv Sena MLAs, who are currently camping in Assam.Principal Secretary to the Governor of Maharashtra Santosh Kumar wrote to Chief Secretary Manu Kumar Srivastava after Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Praveen Darekar had complained about hasty decisions and GRs being issued in a "hurry".

Political developments in the state in the last two weeks have brought some excitement to the hamlet of Dare Tarfe Taam, nestled deep in the Sahyadri ranges 85km from Satara. Its residents are confident that their son of the soil will be the chief minister soon and it will turn the fortunes of their settlement starting with better transportation.

"We do not consider anyone a rebel. If two-thirds of the MLAs are with Shinde, how can they be called rebels?" asked senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar, speaking after a meeting at Devendra Fadnavis' house.So far, BJP had termed the Sena turmoil an internal matter of the party and refused to comment on it. However, after Monday's Supreme Court order shielding the rebels, it immediately held a meeting of its state core committee.

A section of office bearers was ousted in Raigad district, and Sena functionaries said fresh faces would be appointed to party posts after sacking those loyal to the rebels over the next few days. Second-rung leaders would be given key responsibilities as the Uddhav Thackeray-led party looks to rebuild its organisational base and regain its grip on the organisation, they added.

The Supreme Court order extending till July 12, 5.30 pm, the time granted by the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly to Eknath Shinde and other 'rebel' MLAs to reply to disqualification notices, paves the way for a "very definite possibility" of a floor test to prove the confidence of the Assembly, said legal experts. Given that there is no stay on such action, the entire sequence of events now points in the direction of a floor test, which could be the only way out of the impasse in the next two weeks, said experts. "There will be no disqualification till then and they are theoretically entitled to having a floor test,'' said senior counsel Vineet Naik.

In a serious setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court on Monday protected rebel Sena MLAs from disqualification proceedings till July 12, directed the ruling coalition to ensure their safety in Maharashtra and, importantly, refused the Sena-NCP-Congress coalition's request to stop the Eknathrao S Shinde-led rebels from demanding a floor test in the assembly.

Summoned by the ED on Tuesday for questioning in two separate money laundering cases, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut called it "a conspiracy" to curb his political activities and dared the central agency to arrest him. Raut said he is headed for a rally in Alibaug that day, the latest in a series of outreach programmes to quell the rebellion within the Shiv Sena, and he was willing to cooperate with the ED, but on another date.