Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray
Highlights
- Uddhav Thackeray is facing worst govt crisis after several MLAs rebelled against MVA alliance
- Congress chief Sonia Gandhi called Uddhav to inquire about current political situation in the state
- NCP leader Supriya Sule also praised Uddhav saying they are emotionally attached to Thackeray family
Maharashtra crisis: Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Tuesday dialed Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and inquired about the political situation in the state as he battles his worst government crisis ever.
Speculations are rife that post today's cabinet meeting, Uddhav Thackeray may take some decision on his resignation.
CM Uddhav Thackeray, who leads a coalition government with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress in Maharashtra under Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, is on the verge of collapse after over 40 MLAs including senior leader Eknath Shinde rebelled against the party and are camping in Assam's Guwahati.
The rebel MLAs have put forth this argument that the party under Uddhav has deviated from its Hindutva ideology and also accused him of not giving time to his own lawmakers.
In this Sena vs Sena battle, Eknath Shinde's camp had earlier asked Uddhav to leave the unnatural MVA alliance and patch up with the BJP, however, no such move was made by the chief minister.
Backing the government, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said that they are standing behind Uddhav Thackeray and blamed the BJP for the current government crisis.
On Monday, sources said that ever since this crisis unfolded, Uddhav tried to resign not once but twice, however, Sharad Pawar stopped him from doing so.
Sources said that Uddhav even dialed Leader of Opposition (LoP) and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis but there were no details of their talks.
Prior to this, senior leaders of Congress and NCP met Uddhav on Monday, hours after the Supreme Court kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings before the Assembly Deputy Speaker till July 11 and sought responses to pleas by rebel MLAs questioning the legality of notices seeking their disqualification.
“We are alliance partners. We will sit together and discuss things,” state Congress chief Nana Patole told reporters outside Matoshri bungalow, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence in suburban Bandra, after meeting him late evening. Congress minister and former CM Ashok Chavan also met Thackeray.
The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in Maharashtra is battling a political crisis that unfolded last week after Sena minister Eknath Shinde went to Surat in Gujarat and from there to Guwahati in Assam with several Sena MLAs.
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