Who Next After Uddhav Thackeray? Sena Rebels May Meet Governor, BJP Waits

Uddhav Thackeray submitted his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The Governor accepted the resignation and asked him to officiate as Chief Minister until alternate arrangements are made.

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A day after Uddhav Thackeray stepped down from the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s post, Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde will meet all rebel MLAs today at 10 am in what they are calling a legislature party meeting. Mr Shinde will meet the Governor after the meeting to stake a claim to the government, sources say.

The BJP won’t yet claim to form a new government, sources say. However, BJP leader Girish Mahajan has claimed that they have the support of over 170 MLAs and will form the government in the next three days.

Devendra Fadnavis, who met the Governor Tuesday evening and set off the end game, is being projected as a contender for the top post in the state. The Maharashtra BJP tweeted a video clip of a speech in Marathi by Mr Fadnavis. The accompanying caption, also in Marathi, read, “I will come again. For the creation of a new Maharashtra! Jai Maharashtra”. Eknath Shinde is likely to be Mr Fadnavis’s deputy, according to sources.

A heated battle over claim to the Shiv Sena is also underway as the rebel camp hasn’t yet indicated any intention of breaking away and merging with the BJP, or even forming a new party. They say they are the real Shiv Sena and that the Thackeray-led group is a small minority, pushing for a renewed alliance with the BJP. There are speculations they might try to negotiate with the Thackeray camp.

MLA Deepak Kesarkar, the spokesman of the rebel faction, on Wednesday said the resignation of Uddhav Thackeray “is not a matter of joy for us”. The rift, he indicated, was a fallout of the party’s alliance with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. He also underscored the role of Sena leader Sanjay Raut — whose increasing prominence, according to some party insiders, had made rebel leader Eknath Shinde uncomfortable.

Uddhav Thackeray submitted his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Wednesday shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that his government has to take a floor test at 11 am on Thursday as ordered by the Governor.

The Governor accepted the resignation and asked him to officiate as Chief Minister until alternate arrangements are made. With his resignation, the test for a majority on the assembly floor is now void.

“I am resigning as the Chief Minister. I don’t want a hand in the blood of Shiv Sainiks that may be spilled tomorrow,” Mr Thackeray said during the Facebook live address last evening where he announced his resignation. “Those whom we promoted and built up, they are the ones who have betrayed us,” he added in a direct hit at the rebels.

Team Thackeray, shrinking to 15-odd MLAs following Mr Shinde’s rebellion, had asked the court to cancel the Governor’s order asking them to prove a majority on the floor of the assembly.

The rebellion by Eknath Shinde and 50 MLAs supporting him — 40 of them from the Shiv Sena — has effectively ended the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance government.