“As Uddhav resigned without putting up a fight, the MVA’s stint in power came to an end,” summed up NCP chief Sharad Pawar in the revised version of his autobiography.
With the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that the Uddhav Thackeray government cannot be restored in Maharashtra since he resigned and did not take a floor test—which the court said the Governor was wrong to call to begin with—these words by Pawar serve as a haunting reminder of Thackeray’s fall from fortune.
“We did not anticipate that there would be a storm within the Shiv Sena due to Uddhav Thackeray becoming chief minister,” Pawar said in the book Lok Majhe Sangati released on May 2. “The Sena leadership fell short in quelling this outburst of discontent,” the veteran politician wrote.
The NCP leader noted in the book that a chief minister needs “political acumen” and must remain well-informed about political goings-on, and “we all felt that these things were lacking”. He attributed it to Thackeray’s inexperience.
News18 had reported on June 27 last year that Pawar had reportedly stopped Thackeray from quitting the CM’s post twice.
In a unanimous verdict on a batch of pleas related to the political crisis that led to the fall of the three-party MVA government led by Thackeray following a revolt by Eknath Shinde, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud held that the then Speaker’s decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the whip of Shiv Sena was “illegal”.
It, however, said since Thackeray had resigned without facing the floor test, the Governor was justified in inviting Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP which was the largest political party in the house.
“The Governor was not justified in calling upon Mr Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him to reach the conclusion that Mr Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House,” said the bench.
“However, the status quo ante (previously existing state of affairs) can’t be restored because Mr Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. The Governor was, therefore, justified in inviting Mr Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP which was the largest political party in the house,” it said.
Reacting to the verdict, Uddhav Thackeray said Shinde should resign as Maharashtra Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis should step down as deputy CM on moral grounds like he did last year. Addressing a press conference, Thackeray also slammed then governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for calling upon him for the floor test.
“Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should resign on moral grounds like I did,” Thackeray said.
Thackeray said Speaker Rahul Narwekar has to consider Sunil Prabhu as the whip of his Shiv Sena while deciding on the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs.
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