Eknath Shinde Wins Trust Vote
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde proved his government’s majority in the assembly today.
This ended a two-week political surprise that left the Shiv Sena divided and the Uddhav Thackeray government toppled.
After counting of votes, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde proved his government’s majority in the assembly today.
Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray‘s son Aaditya Thackeray voted against the whip issued by Shiv Sena chief whip Bharat Gogawale, who was appointed last night and may face disqualification proceedings.
While the Eknath Shinde camp got 164 votes, the opposition camp got 99 votes. Interestingly, the opposition got 107 votes in the Speaker’s election yesterday.
While one went to the Shinde camp, many MLAs did not come to vote. (Shinde Wins Trust Vote)
Congress’s Vijay Wadettiwar and Zeeshan Siddiqui were not seen today and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan arrived after voting. NCP’s Sangram Jagtap was also missing. All four were present yesterday.
Abu Azmi and Raees Sheikh of Samajwadi Party and Shah Farooq Anwar of AIMIM abstained from voting.
Team Thackeray MLA Santosh Bangar joined the Eknath Shinde camp minutes before the trust vote.
Shiv Sena now has a total of 40 MLAs in the Shinde camp.
The test of strength came a day after BJP’s Rahul Narvekar was elected president – a significant move in the wake of Shiv Sena’s pending legal appeal to disqualify 16 rebel MLAs, including the new chief minister.
Mr Narvekar last night reinstated Mr Shinde as the leader of the Sena’s legislature party, and also recognized the appointment of Mr Gogawale as the sena’s chief whip.
Eknath Shinde’s rebellion – which broke out on the night of 20 June – had decimated the numbers of the Uddhav Thackeray faction.
On Wednesday, Mr Thackeray resigned from the post after the Supreme Court said he had to prove his majority on the floor of the House as ordered by the governor.
A day later, Mr Shinde was named chief minister in a shocking announcement by BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis. Later in the evening, in another surprise, Mr. Fadnavis – a former chief minister of Maharashtra – signed on as Mr. Shinde’s deputy after pressure from top BJP officials.
