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Debjit Mukherjee: The new Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra sailed through the trust vote in the state assembly on Monday, with 164 MLAs voting in its favour and 99 MLAs siding with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The MVA received eight votes less than it had in the election for the state assembly speaker a day earlier.
In a blow to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, one more MLA, Santosh Bangar from Marathwada, switched to the Shinde camp in the morning, reducing their numbers to 15. Besides, several opposition MLAs, including Congress veterans Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, did not reach on time and could not cast their vote.
A total of 263 votes were polled in the trust vote, 25 short of the strength of the House. Twenty MLAs were absent from the assembly. Of these, 11 were from the Congress, 6 from the NCP (including two who are in jail), two BJP MLAs who are unwell and one AIMIM MLA. Two SP MLAs and one AIMIM MLA abstained from voting. BJP MLA Rahul Narwekar, who was elected as speaker, could not cast his vote and one Sena MLA has expired.
Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde camp, whose appointment as Shiv Sena chief whip was approved by assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Sunday, petitioned the assembly speaker on Monday evening asking him to disqualify the 15 Sena legislators, including Aaditya Thackeray, who defied the whip to vote for the party line.
“They could not even get 100 votes. We are the real Shiv Sena, and this is the Shiv Sena-BJP government people had originally voted for in 2019,” said chief minister Eknath Shinde. The government will follow the Hindutva ideals of Sena founder Bal Thackeray but will work for all sections of society, he said. “We will not overturn all decisions of the previous government out of a sentiment of revenge. We will only undo decisions that did not follow norms or are against the public good.”
The battle that will follow is a legal one for control of the Sena’s legislature party. The issue of appointment of the group leader and chief whip is already in the SC, with the next hearing on July 11. Both Uddhav’s camp and Shinde’s faction had issued whips ahead of the trust vote asking MLAs to vote in the party’s favour. They both want MLAs from the rival camp to be disqualified.
“Action will be taken against those who voted against Gogawale’s whip,” said Shinde, whose faction now has 40 Sena MLAs. While, if the disqualification bid against the Thackeray camp’s 15 MLAs succeeds, Aaditya Thackeray could be impacted, Aaditya himself said, “There will be action against those who went against the Shiv Sena’s whip.”
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the legislature had passed a confidence motion in favour of the speaker on Monday. “Minutes after the speaker won the poll on Sunday, the opposition moved a no-confidence motion against him. This was done to prevent him from hearing petitions against Sena MLAs who violated Gogawale’s whip,” said Fadnavis. “Once a confidence motion is passed, no one can bring a no-confidence motion against him for a year,” he added.
Most of the MLAs who did not vote were present inside the assembly but could not vote as its doors were locked for the vote. “Usually, there is a debate and then the trust vote. This time the vote took place immediately, which is why we got delayed. We are with MVA and no other meaning should be derived from this,” said Congress leader Ashok Chavan.
Fadnavis mocked the opposition MLAs for their absence. “I want to thank the MLAs who voted for us, including those who remained absent. This was an invisible hand that ensured we got a large majority,” he said.
Referring to the ridicule he faced for saying ‘Mee Punha Yein (I will return)’ during the 2019 polls, after which the MVA came to power, he said, “I have returned, but not alone. I have come with Eknath Shindeji.”
Emphasising that the Sena-BJP alliance was united, he said, “I will be standing behind Eknath Shinde with full force. There will be no power struggle between us.” Dismissing charges that the BJP had used the threat of ED action to break Sena MLAs, Fadnavis said, “It’s true that these people have come with us because of ED. But this ED is Eknath-Devendra.”
NCP’s Ajit Pawar was elected as leader of opposition in the assembly by the MVA.
Later in the evening, Shinde went to pay his respects at the Bal Thackeray memorial at Shivaji Park.