Ready To Resign: Uddhav Thackeray

Ready To Resign: Uddhav Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today said he will “not fight for a chair” and that his party Shiv Sena will “never give up on Hindutva” in his maiden address as his party faced a rebel crisis two days ago.

Uddhav Thackeray said, “If even a single MLA objected to me as chief minister, I would resign. I am keeping my resignation ready. You tell me you want me to resign.” Mr Thackeray spoke soon after 30 Shiv Sena MLAs wrote to the governor supporting rebel Eknath Shinde as their leader.

“I am getting calls from MLAs accompanying Eknath Shinde, claiming that they were forcibly taken away,” Thackeray said. The rebel MLAs, who are at a hotel in BJP-ruled Assam’s Guwahati, wrote to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari that Eknath Shinde is still the leader of Shiv Sena’s legislature party, a day after Uddhav Thackeray sacked him for his act of rebellion. Had done it.

Uddhav Thackeray’s grip on the party founded by his father Bal Thackeray appeared to be loosening as Eknath Shinde, calling the shots, rejected his “5 pm meeting” ultimatum to the MLAs. The rebel MLAs insisted that the meeting was “illegal” as it was called by Sunil Prabhu, who is no longer the party’s chief whip. The letter said the insurgent group’s Bharat Gogawale has been appointed as chief whip and is still “with the Shiv Sena”, officially starting the major battle over which is the real army.

The rebels said the new appointment “cancelled” Uddhav Thackeray’s candidate Sunil Prabhu as chief whip. Earlier today, he had asked his party MLAs to attend a meeting at his home at that time and warned that not doing the show would mean expulsion, four independent MLAs are among those who signed the letter. This means Eknath Shinde has 30 Shiv Sena MLAs and needs seven more to split the party without risking disqualification under the anti-defection law.

This morning, Mr. Shinde told NDTV that he has the support of 45 Shiv Sena MLAs. Four more Shiv Sena MLAs flew to Guwahati this evening, accompanied by Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil. Mr. Shinde went MIA on the Shiv Sena on Monday night as he took a flight with 21 MLAs to Surat in BJP-ruled Gujarat.

After Uddhav Thackeray spoke to him over the phone and urged him to end his rebellion, Mr. Shinde and his group of legislators flew to Assam, another BJP-ruled state, and checked into a five-star hotel in Guwahati.