Maharashtra crisis: Uddhav Thackeray to chair crucial Sena meet today

The political crisis in Maharashtra continues with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government trying hard to quell the rebellion by Eknath Shinde and 38 other MLAs camping at a hotel in Guwahati.

Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray was in a combative mood on Friday, calling the defectors ‘backstabbers’ while invoking the legacy of his late father Bal Thackeray to project himself as the true Sena leader.

On Saturday, the Shiv Sena has called a meeting of its national executive at 1 pm at the Sena Bhawan in Dadar. Uddhav Thackeray is expected to chair the meeting virtually.

Here are the top ten developments unfolding in the state of Maharashtra:

1. The Shiv Sena has also planned a gathering of party workers at the Birla Matoshree auditorium where Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray will address the Shiv Sainiks.

2. The Shiv Sena has gone all out in its efforts to ensure the disqualification of rebel MLAs including Eknath Shinde, with the party requesting deputy speaker to disqualify the rebels. “ We had yesterday requested the deputy speaker to disqualify 12 MLAs & now 4 more. We’ve again spoken to the deputy speaker requesting an initiation on proceedings; their disqualification notice will be served tomorrow or the day after,” Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant was quoted by ANI late Friday. The four legislators whose names were forwarded to the deputy speaker were Sanjay Raymulkar, Chiman Patil, Ramesh Bornare and Balaji Kalyankar, he said.

3. The rebel Eknath Shinde camp challenged Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal to take any action on the motion moved by Shiv Sena to disqualify 16 legislators. Mahesh Baldi and Vinod Aggarwal, the independent MLAs seen close to the BJP, filed a notice to the deputy speaker, reminding him that a no-confidence motion against him was still pending and he had no locus standi to act on the disqualification motion.

4. An alert has been sounded in Maharashtra as Shiv Sena supporters are likely to stage angry protests following Eknath Shinde’s rebellion, a police official told PTI on Friday. A general alert has been issued to all the district superintendents of police and police commissioners, asking them to take steps to prevent any untoward incident. On Friday, Shiv Sainiks damaged a hoarding with the picture of rebel Mangesh Kudalkar in Mumbai’s Kurla region. A similar incident was reported from the city where a poster of Sena MLA Dilip Lande was smeared with ink and another was torn.

5. The leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance have been holding meetings to deliberate on measures to prevent the ruling government from falling due to minority. On Friday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and other senior leaders of his party met Uddhav Thackeray in Matoshree. The NCP and Congress have declared support to the chief minister who is facing a massive rebellion from within this party.