Maharashtra Politics: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who was in the news for allegedly planning a coup in his party, said that even if 16 MLAs were disqualified, the government of Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis would not fall. 'There is no threat to the Maharashtra government," he asserted.
His comment comes days after the Supreme Court's ruling on last year's political crisis in Maharashtra in which the apex court refused to dismiss the Eknath government and referred the disqualification case to a larger bench.
A few days ago, Pawar had said there was no need of demanding resignation from the incumbent CM Shinde on moral grounds, as he would not step down. "There is a huge difference between former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the current people. We know he (Eknath Shinde) will not resign even in his dreams," Pawar claimed.
Ajit Pawar on Speaker's resignation
Notably, the NCP leader's statement came after former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's demand for Shinde to resign on moral grounds following the apex court's verdict. Speaking further on the then-political crisis, Pawar said that the Speaker of the Assembly (Nana Patole) should not have resigned the way he did in 2021. "Our Speaker had resigned then without asking our CM Uddhav Thackeray, that should not have happened. Even if he resigned, we could have elected a new Speaker immediately. If we had our Speaker, then those 16 MLAs would have been disqualified then," the NCP leader remarked.
What SC said in its verdict?
The Supreme Court on Thursday held that former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was "not justified" to call for a floor test based on the request of Eknath Shinde faction since he did not have enough objective material before him to conclude that the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House.
A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha said it could not disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government and reinstate Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minster because the latter had chosen to resign instead of facing a test of strength in the Assembly. The court said the political imbroglio in Maharashtra arose as a result of party differences within the Shiv Sena.
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(With inputs from agencies)
