A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trumped the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the Legislative Council polls, the stability of the State government has come under question as senior Sena Minister Eknath Shinde reportedly left Mumbai along with his group of MLAs to be stationed at Surat in Gujarat.
Mr. Shinde is said to have taken 11 party MLAs with him in what appears to be a rebellion within the saffron party against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. In Monday’s council poll, a total of 12 Sena MLAs cross-voted in favour of BJP candidates.
Sources in Surat confirmed that over a dozen legislators from Maharashtra were lodged at the Le Meridien Hotel. “The legislators checked in late last night,“ the sources said adding that there was heavy police deployment around the hotel.
The move from Mr .Shinde has brought the stability of the MVA government under scanner. The BJP with its performance in council polls had demonstrated the support of 134 MLAs while the majority mark in Maharashtra Assembly is 145.
Mr. Thackeray on Tuesday afternoon has called an urgent meeting of party MLAs in the wake of Mr. Shinde’s rebellion within.
On Monday, apart from the Sena, three MLAs of the Congress too cross-voted in favour of the BJP. Senior party Ministers and leaders have been called to Delhi to seek a response on the issue. Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat had claimed the responsibility for the same, adding that there was need to introspect.
Cross-voting by Congress MLAs resulted in the defeat of party’s first preference candidate and Dalit leader Chandrakant Handore.
