Tag: mva government

Now, Eknath Shinde Faction Moves to Take Control of Shiv Sena’s Bow-and-Arrow Poll Symbol

The rebel faction has already weaned away a majority of MLAs and MPs from Uddhav Thackeray.

New Delhi: After weaning away a majority of MLAs and MPs from Uddhav Thackeray, the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena has now moved the Election Commission (EC) to take control of the party’s ‘bow-and-arrow’ poll symbol.

In a letter to the EC, the Shinde faction has claimed to be the “real Shiv Sena”, citing the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar accepting leaders from its faction as the floor leader of the Shiv Sena parliamentary party and the legislature party.

Shinde and nearly 40 other MLAs had rebelled against Thackeray in June, leading to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Subsequently, Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister of the state on June 30 with the BJP extending outside support.

He has the support of at least 40 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs in Maharashtra. About a dozen of the party’s 18 MPs also support him.  On Tuesday, Shinde announced the name of Rahul Shewale as the party’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha and Bhavana Gawli as its chief whip.

The Lok Sabha speaker granted recognition to Shewale as the leader of the Shiv Sena in the lower house of parliament.

The claim over the symbol assumes significance as the Supreme Court directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission on Wednesday to notify elections to local bodies within two weeks. Elections are due in several civic bodies in Maharashtra, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which would indicate which Sena faction gets popular support.

Earlier, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena had written to the EC, requesting it to hear its views before making any decision on representations for claims over the party name and its poll symbol.

An uphill battle?

Legal experts have said that though Shinde has been sworn in as the chief minister, his faction faces two problems – avoiding disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the constitution and taking control of the Shiv Sena political party.

Advocate Abhay Nevagi, in an article for The Wire, explained that the Tenth Schedule “does not recognise a ‘split’ in a legislature party and instead recognises a ‘merger’”. The Shinde camp cannot claim to be the ‘real’ Shiv Sena merely because the Thackeray faction is in minority. He wrote:

“The purported two-thirds members have to merge with another party in any case and there is no other way if they want to avoid disqualification. That is the only valid plea a defector can raise. A political party is not like a company, control of which can be obtained by way of a hostile takeover or by usurping control of the Board of Directors.”

Because the Shinde faction has not merged with any other party, they are still bound by the constitution of the Shiv Sena. And the political party’s constitution gives Thackeray, the president of the Shiv Sena, “sweeping and unfettered powers to expel members and office-bearers”.

“Such powers cannot be claimed either by Shinde or by the purported two-thirds majority of the rebel MLAs. This power can also not be bestowed upon the rebels either by the speaker of the Maharashtra assembly or even by the Supreme Court,” Nevagi explained.

Even when they approach the EC, the Shinde faction “will have the heavy burden to prove their legitimacy and rights over the Shiv Sena” before it can claim any right over the party emblem and election symbol, the advocate argued.

(With PTI inputs)

Maha Cabinet To Consider Proposal To Rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar: Minister

The move comes amid pressure on the Shiv Sena which has been accused of compromising with its core ideology of Hindutva.

Mumbai: Facing threat to his government following a rebellion in his party, chief minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday presided over a Cabinet meeting where a demand was made to rename Aurangabad city as Sambhajinagar.

The cabinet meeting took place in the state secretariat in south Mumbai a day after Thackeray took away the portfolios of rebel Shiv Sena ministers who are camping in Guwahati. The CM, who has moved to his family residence Matoshree in suburban Mumbai, participated in the proceedings virtually.

A cabinet minister insisted no political discussion took place at the meet.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, transport minister Anil Parab of the Shiv Sena said he demanded that Aurangabad city in central Maharashtra be renamed as Sambhajinagar.

A proposal will be brought during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Parab, a close aide of Thackeray, said.

The move comes amid pressure on the Shiv Sena which has been accused of compromising with its core ideology of Hindutva. The opposition BJP has been trying to corner the Shiv Sena, which heads the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, over renaming the central Maharashtra city after Maratha king Chhatrapati Sambhaji.

Considered a polarising figure in Indian history, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb founded the city of Aurangabad in the Marathwada region of the present-day Maharashtra. He had also ordered the execution of Chhatrapati Sambhaji, a personality revered by the Shiv Sena.

Fisheries minister Aslam Shaikh, who belongs to the Congress, said exhaustive discussion took place on the rising COVID-19 cases in certain districts and steps taken to contain them. The rainfall deficit in the state was also discussed, he said.

There was no political discussion in the cabinet meeting which focussed only on the listed agenda, he said.

Home minister Dilip Walse Patil, a senior NCP leader, echoed Shaikh, saying no political issues came up for discussion.

He said another cabinet meeting is likely to take place on Wednesday to take up the pending issues.

On Monday, Thackeray, who also heads the Shiv Sena, had divested portfolios of rebel ministers, including Eknath Shinde, who has raised the banner of revolt against the Sena leadership, and allocated their departments to other ministers.

The rebellion by Shinde, who has claimed the support of nearly 40 dissident Sena MLAs, has threatened the very existence of the two-and-a-half-year-old MVA government, which also consists of the NCP and the Congress.

Maharashtra Crisis: Eknath Shinde Moves SC for Stay on Disqualification Notice

A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala is likely to hear the rebel Sena MLA’s plea today.

New Delhi: Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde has moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators, calling the action “illegal and unconstitutional” and seeking a stay on it.

A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala is likely to hear Shinde’s plea today, June 27, seeking directions to the deputy speaker to not take any action in the disqualification petition against him.

Shinde and a sizable number of MLAs rebelled against the leadership of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on June 21 and are currently in Guwahati in Assam.

Their main demand is that the Sena withdraws from the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, which also comprises the Congress and NCP.

Shinde in his plea said that he is constrained to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the “arbitrary and illegal” exercise of provisions of Members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of Defection) Rules, 1986 by the deputy speaker which is completely violative of Article 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

“The illegal and unconstitutional action of the Deputy Speaker insofar as recognising Ajay Choudhury as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party (SSLP) despite the said request being admittedly made by a minority faction of the SSLP. Further, the said Respondent No. 1 (Deputy Speaker), even after belonging to the minority faction of the SSLP, has also filed a Petition under Rule 6 of MLA Defection Rules seeking disqualification of the Petitioner under Para-2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India for which the Petitioner received a notice dated June 2, 2022,” the plea said.

Also read: Time Is Ripe to Rewrite Parts of Anti-Defection Law Which Politicians Habitually Misuse

The petition contended that the seat of Speaker is vacant since Nana Patole resigned from office in February 2021 and there is no authority who can adjudicate upon the disqualification petition under which the impugned notice has been issued to the petitioner.

Shinde, who is MLA from Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency of Thane, has challenged the ex-facie illegal disqualification proceedings initiated against him at the instance of Shiv Sena’s chief whip, Sunil Prabhu, and said he had no authority to issue any whip having been removed as the Chief Whip of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party and the consequent issuance of summons issued by the deputy speaker without verifying the matter.

The plea filed through advocate Abhinay Sharma said the deputy speaker cannot disqualify any member under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution during the pendency of his own removal resolution and termed his action in recognising Ajay Choudhary and Sunil Prabhu as Leader and Chief Whip of SSLP as illegal.

The petition has sought directions to the deputy speaker to not take any action in the Disqualification Petition under Rule 6 of MLA Defection Rules pending before Speaker of Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly and not take any action on the same until the resolution for removal of deputy speaker is decided.

“Issue a writ of prohibition/mandamus or any other appropriate writ, direction or order, interim in nature stay the effect and operation of the notice dated June 25, 2022, issued to the Petitioner by the Respondent No. 1.

“Issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction hold and declare that the Letter/order dated June 21, 2022, passed by the Respondent No. 1 accepting the appointment of Respondent No. 4 as Leader of Shiv Sena Legislature Party is illegal and unconstitutional and be pleased to quash and set aside the same,” the plea said.

The Maharashtra legislature secretariat on Saturday had issued “summons” to 16 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, including Shinde, seeking written replies by the evening of June 27 to the complaints seeking their disqualification.

Signed by Rajendra Bhagwat, principal secretary of the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan, the summons were sent to all 16 MLAs named by the Shiv Sena’s chief whip, Sunil Prabhu, in a letter.

Prabhu had earlier asked the rebel MLAs of the Shinde faction, who are camping in Guwahati, to attend a party meeting here on Wednesday but none of them turned up.

Subsequently, the Sena submitted two letters to the legislature secretariat, seeking disqualification of 16 MLAs including Shinde.

The summons issued by Bhagwat on Saturday said that Prabhu had submitted a letter to deputy speaker of the Assembly Narhari Zirwal seeking their disqualification under the Members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of Defection) Rules, 1986.

“In your defence of the summons, you need to submit your written response before 5.30 pm on June 27 (Monday) supported by all the necessary documents. If the written response to the summons is not submitted in a given period, it would be considered as you have no say over it. The office will initiate necessary action based on the complaint filed by Prabhu against you,” the letter said.

The Shinde group, which claims to have the support of more than two-thirds of Sena MLAs, has announced that Prabhu has been replaced as party whip by Bharat Gogawale.

Maharashtra Crisis: Rebel Leaders Name Their Group Shiv Sena (Balasaheb)

“At present, there is pressure, we don’t feel that it is safe to return,” rebel MLA Deepal Kesarkar said, when asked when they were planning to return to Mumbai.

New Delhi: The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs have named their group as Shiv Sena (Balasaheb), even as they claimed that they have not left the party and reasserted that their faction enjoys a two-thirds majority in the legislature party and Eknath Shinde is their leader.

In a virtual press conference from Guwahati on Saturday, MLA Deepak Kesarkar said they have not left the Sena, but named their group Shiv Sena (Balasaheb).

“Just 16 or 17 people can not replace the group leader of 55 MLAs and the rebel Sena faction will challenge in the court the order of Maharashtra assembly’s deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal replacing Shinde as Shiv Sena group leader,” he said.

“The MLAs had told party president Uddhav Thackeray that we should stay with the party with whom we had contested election… When so many people voice the same opinion, there must be some substance in it,” he said, referring to the Shinde group’s initial demand that the Sena should revive its alliance with the BJP and sever ties with Congress and NCP.

To a question about whether the Shinde group will withdraw their support to the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra, Kesarkar said, “Why should we withdraw the support? We are the Shiv Sena. We have not hijacked the party, the NCP and Congress have hijacked it.”

He also said the Shinde group will prove its majority in the assembly but “we will not merge with any other political party.”

“We have decided to name our group Shiv Sena (Balasaheb) because we believe in his (Bal Thackeray’s) ideology,” he added.

To a question on when the rebel MLAs plan to return to Mumbai, he said they will come back ‘at an appropriate time’. “At present, there is pressure, we don’t feel that it is safe to return,” Kesarkar said, referring to incidents of attacks on offices and residences of rebel MLAs in Maharashtra.

Uddhav camp passes resolution

The national executive of the Shiv Sena on Saturday passed a resolution authorising Maharashtra chief minister and party chief Uddhav Thackeray to take action against the rebels.

The executive also passed a resolution that no other political outfit can use the name Shiv Sena and the name of its founder, late Bal Thackeray.

“The executive decided that Shiv Sena belongs to Bal Thackeray and is committed to taking forward his fierce ideology of Hindutva and Marathi pride. Shiv Sena will never deviate from this path,” party MP Sanjay Raut said.

“It passed a resolution, giving all powers to take action against those who have betrayed the party to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray,” Raut told reporters.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray arrives at Sena Bhavan to attend Shiv Sena’s meeting, in Mumbai, Saturday, June 25, 2022. Photo: PTI

Rebel MLAs office damaged

Shiv Sena workers on Saturday vandalised the office of rebel party MLA Tanaji Sawant in Pune, warning the other dissident MLAs that a similar fate awaits them in a brazen threat.

Eknath Shinde, who is leading the revolt against Uddhav Thackeray and the Sena’s alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, has claimed that the security cover provided for the residences of 16 rebel legislators, including himself, was removed dubbing the action as “political vendetta”.

A group of workers barged into the Bhairavnath Sugar Works office of Sawant, who is currently in Guwahati as part of the Shinde camp, on Saturday morning. The office is located in the Katraj area.

According to news agency PTI, Shiv Sena corporator Vishal Dhanawade, who was part of the action, said, “The ransacking of Sawant’s office is just the beginning and the offices of every traitor (rebel MLA) will be destroyed in the coming days.”

Sawant represents the Paranda assembly constituency in the Osmanabad district.

A majority of Shiv Sena MLAs have shifted their loyalty to Shinde and are camping in Guwahati, plunging the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Thackeray into a crisis.

Shinde slammed the Maharashtra government on Saturday for allegedly withdrawing the security cover provided to the residences of 16 rebel legislators.

He tweeted a letter signed by the 16 MLAs that is addressed to Thackeray and home minister Dilip Walse Patil. The latter denied the allegations, saying the government has not taken such a move.

In the letter, the legislators said Thackeray and the leaders of the MVA alliance will be responsible if any harm is caused to their family members. Shinde alleged that the security cover was withdrawn on the orders of Thackeray and Walse Patil due to “political vendetta”.

In the letter, the legislators demanded that their security cover be reinstated.

“If our family members are harmed, then the chief minister, leaders of the MVA government like Sharad Pawar, Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray will be responsible,” the letter said.

The security cover, which is provided at their residence as well as to their family members as per the protocol, has been withdrawn illegally and unlawfully as an act of revenge, it said.

Eknath Shinde plays chess in a Guwahati hotel, June 24, 2022. Photo: PTI

The Shiv Sena on Friday sought the disqualification of 16 MLAs, also issuing notices asking them to respond by Monday, June 27, about why they should not be disqualified.

“Despite issuing a letter to them, none of them attended the party meeting on Wednesday evening here in Mumbai,” party leader Arvind Sawant said.

Though Uddhav Thackeray had initially offered to step down as chief minister to placate the rebels, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has since said that the fate of the MVA government will be decided on the floor of the Maharashtra MLA. He was confident that the coalition would be able to prove its majority.

Shinde has said that the Sena must break its “unnatural alliance” with the NCP and Congress, accusing these two parties of corruption.

How rebel MLAs gave security officers a slip

Meanwhile, details have emerged of how the rebel MLAs gave a slip to their security officers to leave for Surat, where they were camped before shifting to Guwahati.

According to news agency PTI, much before the rebellion caught the Maharashtra government off guard, the MLAs “accomplished the task of giving the slip to their security personnel”.

A police official said the legislators gave the slip to their security officials and the police officers by citing “personal reasons” so that the government machinery remains clueless about their plans.

The crisis, which erupted hours after the Legislative Council polls held on June 20, which saw the opposition BJP managing to get its fifth candidate elected. Shinde had gone incommunicado following the results. He and a group of rebel MLAs first stayed in Gujarat. Since Wednesday, he has been camping in a Guwahati hotel along with at least 38 rebel MLAs of the Sena and 10 independents. Their rebellion became public on June 21 morning.

Talking about how these legislators managed to escape, mostly from Mumbai, to Surat, located around 280 km away, a police official said, “Many of the MLAs, who have been provided protection by the state police department, told their security officers that they had some personal work and asked them to wait until they return. However, they headed to Surat after that without informing them.”

A Mumbai-based MLA was sitting in his office and sipping coconut water when he told his supporters that he would return in a few minutes and left the place, he added.

Another party legislator said that he had to go home for some work. A Yuva Sena office-bearer was travelling in his car, but after some distance, the legislator forced him to get off and proceeded further, he said.

“Another legislator asked his security officers to wait outside a hotel, saying that he had some work inside, but exited from another gate, leaving his guards clueless,” he said.

Some of the other MLAs also made the same escape plan, the officer told PTI.

Four of these MLAs had categorised security cover. These leaders are Shinde, the urban development minister; Shambhuraj Desai, the minister of state for home; and ministers Abdul Sattar and Sandipan Bhumre.

These four MLAs were guarded by special police officers (SPOs) and security officials, but the security teams were not aware of their plans as their personal itinerary was not disclosed to them.

“By the time the SPOs informed about the movement to the protectees to their seniors, the MLAs had crossed the state border. All this drama unfolded within a span of a few hours. The police officials, posted for their security did not realise the escape plan,” he said.

Senior officials from the home department said there was no intelligence failure, as the state intelligence department had provided inputs about some Shiv Sena MLAs being in touch with the leaders of the opposition party leaders for the last few months.

“There was nothing on paper as everything was conveyed to the people concerned verbally, but no action was taken on the information,” he said.

Maharashtra | Shinde Says Shiv Sena Must Break ‘Unnatural Alliance’ With NCP, Congress

The rebel leader has responded to Uddhav Thackeray’s offer to step down as chief minister.

New Delhi: Uddhav Thackeray has offered to step down as chief minister if the rebel Shiv Sena leaders tell him that he is unfit to continue in the position, as the crisis in the Maharashtra government comes to a head.

The move comes after as many as 34 rebel Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLAs endorsed dissident Shiv Sena dissident leader Eknath Shinde as their party leader in a statement made available to reporters on Wednesday afternoon. Shinde and a cohort of MLAs have put up at a hotel in Assam’s Guwahati, where they travelled to from Gujarat’s Surat on Wednesday morning.

The 34 MLAs have claimed that they have been ill at ease with the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress government that has been in power since late 2019.

After more than 40 hours of political drama in Maharashtra, Thackeray finally broke his silence on Wednesday evening. Claiming to be pained by the behaviour of his own, the Shiv Sena chief said that he would be moving out of the chief minister’s official bungalow Varsha to his personal residence Matoshree in western Mumbai.

Thackeray, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier on Wednesday, said that he was also willing to step down from the party chief’s position if those rebelling (from the party) come forward and say so. “You don’t need to move to another state and stay in some hotel in Surat to make such moves. You come here and tell me this to my face. I have made up my mind. I am willing to step down from not just the CM’s position but also from the post of the party head, if my people want me to,” he said in a live appearance.

Thackeray also added that he has been criticised for forgetting his “Hindu roots”. “I was a Hindu yesterday; I am a Hindu today and I will continue to be a Hindu tomorrow. Let there be no doubt,” he claimed. He also claimed that he was perhaps the only chief minister to have spoken of Hindutva in the assembly.

Hours later, the Shiv Sena chief made good of his promise to move out of the CM’s official residence.

After Thackeray’s webcast, NCP president Sharad Pawar, his daughter and NCP MP Supriya Sule and party minister Jitendra Awhad called on the chief minister.

In response to Thackeray, Shinde said the Shiv Sena must break the “unnatural” alliance with the Congress and the NCP. “In the last two and a half years of the MVA government, only the constituent parties have benefitted while the Shiv Sainiks were overwhelmed. While the constituent parties are getting stronger, the Shiv Sainiks – Shiv Sena is getting embezzled. It is essential to get out of the unnatural alliance for the survival of the party and Shiv Sainiks. Decisions need to be taken now in the interest of Maharashtra,” he wrote in Marathi on Twitter.

Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali has asked Thackeray to look into the demands made by the rebel leaders, asking him to take the right decision in the “larger interest of the people”.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has meanwhile indicated that Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray could recommend to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to dissolve the state assembly, as the crisis for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government deepened.

“The political developments in Maharashtra are headed towards dissolution of the state assembly,” Raut said.

Two MLAs from the rebel camp have, meanwhile, returned to the MVA fold, noting they had been taken against their will.

Meanwhile, travelling Sena MLAs were received at the airport by BJP MPs Pallab Lochan Das and Sushanta Borgohain.

Shinde, who initially refused to talk to reporters waiting outside the airport, later said he has ‘the support of 40 MLAs’.

Shiv Sena MLAs Kailash Patil and Nitin Deshmukh have meanwhile returned from the Eknath Shinde camp and pledged support to Uddhav Thackeray. Both have alleged that they were taken to Gujarat against their will.

“I was forcibly taken to Surat. I am absolutely fine. I didn’t have a heart attack. I was abducted by over 20-25 people, was locked inside a hospital room. I was injected with something forcefully and hospitalised against my will. I belong to Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena,” Deshmukh said.

Patil made it clear that he was taken to Gujarat against will.

“I was put in a vehicle and taken outside Mumbai against my will. Mid-way, when the vehicle was about to cross over to Gujarat, I sensed something is wrong. I asked them to stop at a toilet close by and then escaped from there. I ran 4-5 kilometres and then headed back to Bombay. Local truck drivers helped me get back to Mumbai,” he told reporters.

Numbers

Earlier, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut claimed 14 to 15 Sena MLAs, including some ministers, are with Shinde in Gujarat’s Surat city. However, another party leader said the number could be 23.

The Shiv Sena, which heads the MVA, has 55 MLAs, followed by allies NCP (53) and the Congress (44) in the 288-member assembly, where the current simple majority mark is 144.

Thus, the BJP can form the government if Shinde and other rebels decide to resign from the assembly in support of the saffron party. In that case, the BJP with 106 MLAs (38 short of the majority mark of 144) will be positioned well to dislodge the Mahavikas Aghadi government in an assembly with reduced strength.

Meanwhile, in Assam

Speculation is rife that Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is likely to meet the MLAs during the day. However, the BJP party or his office are yet to confirm the meeting.

Tight security has been imposed, with a huge posse of police personnel posted in and around the hotel.

The MLAs were taken to Surat from Mumbai on Tuesday and the decision to shift them to Guwahati was taken on security grounds, PTI reported, quoting a BJP source.

This is perhaps for the first time that MLAs from a western Indian state is being taken to a northeastern state after rebellion against the party leadership.

The Wire has reported that a Sena loyalist, Shinde had been unhappy with the party’s direction. “He felt he was not being kept in the loop even when important policies were being formulated and party decisions were being taken,” said a party leader.

(With PTI inputs)

Note: First published at 9.09 am on June 22, 2022, this report is being updated and republished with information as it comes in.

As Uddhav Camp Calls Meeting, 34 MLAs Say Shinde Is Shiv Sena Legislature Party Leader

A letter signed by 34 dissident MLAs claimed that there has been “great dissatisfaction” among the Sena leaders following the arrest of Maharashtra ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik.

New Delhi: Facing a rebellion, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday asked all its MLAs in Maharashtra – including those accompanying dissident leader Eknath Shinde – to attend a legislature party meeting in Mumbai at 5 pm or face action under the anti-defection law.

Shinde, meanwhile, threw down the challenge to Uddhav Thackeray. The dissident leader, who moved to Guwahati from Surat early on Wednesday in a chartered aircraft, has been insisting that he continues to be a part of Sena. In a telephonic interview with a regional news channel, Shinde said that he has over 46 MLAs with him. Of them, he claimed most are from his own party and the rest are independent MLAs.

In the afternoon, he took to Twitter alleging that the decision to expel him from the party was invalid. He announced that another rebelling MLA, Bharat Gogawale, was elected as a chief whip of the party.

A letter signed by 34 dissident MLAs claimed that there has been “great dissatisfaction” among the Sena leaders following the arrest of two Maharashtra ministers – Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik – in recent times. While Deshmukh was arrested on corruption charges, Malik was accused of having links with the fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim. “Our party cadre has faced tremendous harassment and distress on both political as well as personal grounds from the opposition ideological parties, who are now a part of the Government,” the MLAs claim in the letter.

The MLAs further claimed that wished to “give a clean and honest government to the people of Maharashtra”, as envisioned by party founder Bal Thackeray and the present government was allegedly “compromising on the principle of Hindutva by aligning with the opposing ideologies.

They also said that though the Shiv Sena and the Bhartiya Janta Party had forged a pre-poll alliance for
the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections, Uddhav Thackeray severed ties with the saffron party and formed an alliance with the “opposing parties”.

They resolved that Shinde continues to be the Shiv Sena legislature party leader and that Bharat Gogawale will be the party whip.

Uddhav camp calls for meeting

Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu has written a letter and issued it to some Sena ministers, including the minister of state for home Shambhuraj Desai – who is currently staying with Shinde in Guwahati, asking them to attend a meeting at 5 pm at the chief minister’s residence.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, which heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, has said leaders who do not turn up at the meeting will be presumed to be leaving the party.

“The Shiv Sena has called for an urgent meeting today evening at ‘Varsha’ bungalow as there have been attempts to make the MVA government unstable. The details regarding the meeting have been shared with all the members (MLAs) on their registered e-mail address, WhatsApp and by way of SMS.”

“You cannot remain absent from the meeting without providing a valid and sufficient reason. If you do not attend the meeting, it would be presumed that you have a clear intention of leaving the party. Hence, there will be action taken against you based on the provisions for preventing anti-defection,” the letter said.

‘Varsha’ is the official residence of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

A day earlier, the Sena had removed Shinde as the leader of its legislature party in the Legislative Assembly.

The Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs in the assembly. Shinde had claimed the support of 40 MLAs, but Sanjay Raut, another party leader, has said that number is around 15.

“I have more numbers (of Shiv Sena MLAs) than needed (to form a separate group in the assembly without inviting the provision of the anti-defection law),” he told a Marathi TV channel.

The Shiv Sena-led MVA is tottering on the brink following the rebellion by Shinde who left Mumbai on Monday night with a sizeable number of MLAs and travelled to Surat in Gujarat. In the early hours of Wednesday, Shinde and rebel MLAs accompanying him were flown to Guwahati.

Two MLAs – Kailash Patil and Nitin Deshmukh – have returned to Mumbai and pledged support to Thackeray. They have claimed that they were taken to Gujarat against their will.

Raut has also indicated that there is a possibility that the assembly will be dissolved.

(With PTI inputs)

Note: This article was originally published at 4:25 pm and updated with additional inforamation.

Amidst High Drama, Eknath Shinde Ushers in Uddhav Govt’s First Big Internal Challenge

The Sena loyalist who apparently held ambitions to rise to the CM’s post has the support of 30 MLAs – a fact which BJP is keen to exploit.

Mumbai: In December 2019, an unthinkable political alliance – between the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress party – was formed in Maharashtra. While the formation of the tri-party government (also called the Mahavikas Aghadi) managed to bring a grinding halt to the political rise of Devendra Fadnavis in both the state and central politics, its own political trajectory has been a rather bumpy one.

The recent in the long list of crises is the loss of Sena’s nominee Sanjay Pawar in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections, followed by cross-voting in the state legislative council polls concluded on June 20.

Now, a sudden “rebellious move” by senior Sena leader and state cabinet minister Eknath Shinde has dealt the worst political blow to the Mahavikas Aghadi. Shinde, who senior Sena leaders claim, has been “unreachable” since last night, is reportedly camping in a hotel in Surat along with at least 30 more party MLAs.

While initial speculation indicated that at least 12 MLAs could be supporting Shinde, the number has now gone up to 30.

This is the first and biggest coup that the Sena could be suffering since the party came to power.

Eknath Shinde (second from left) with Sena brass. Photo: Twitter/@mieknathshinde

What is the recent crisis about?

Shinde, until now one of most loyal Sena leaders around, is a four-time MLA and a strong face from Thane district in Maharashtra. He was a close confidante of Sena founder, late Bal Thackeray. In the 1980s and 1990s, Shinde worked closely with the party’s then Thane district chief Anand Dighe. Upon Dighe’s passing, Shinde assumed the role in the district.

Shinde has not made the reasons for his disaffection clear but party sources say that he felt “side-lined” by the party.

A senior party worker told The Wire that Shinde was ambitious and had been “eyeing” Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s position.

Shinde, many senior leaders in the party also claim, has been unhappy. “He felt he was not being kept in the loop even when important policies were being formulated and party decisions were being taken,” said a party leader.

Shinde had also wanted the party to contest the Thane Municipal Corporation election by itself. His suggestion was turned down by Uddhav Thackeray.

His political ambitions, however – as NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has claimed – were not known to the government. “(Eknath) Shinde has never conveyed to us that he wants to be Chief Minister. The Chief Minister’s post belongs to the Shiv Sena. The Deputy Chief Minister’s post is with the NCP. This is an internal issue of the Shiv Sena. Whatever they decide, we are with them,” Pawar told reporters. He also called Shinde’s dissent Sena’s “internal matter”.

Sena’s politics versus Shinde’s politics

After maintaining silence for many hours, Shinde took to his social media handle to claim that he will continue to be a Bal Thackeray supporter and will never compromise with his principles for political gains. “We are staunch supporters of Bal Thackeray. Balasaheb taught us Hindutva. We will never compromise with Balasaheb and Anant Dighe’s teachings for political gains,” he tweeted at 2:20 pm on Tuesday.

Shinde’s tweet has sent confusing signals. While it can be interpreted as a message showing Shinde’s loyalty to Shiv Sena, it also appears to be a dig at Uddhav Thackeray who has emerged as one of the most vocal opposition leaders.

In a recent speech, Thackeray hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for compromising India’s stature in the aftermath of the international backlash against BJP’s Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal’s disparaging remarks against the Prophet. At the same time, he defined Shiv Sena’s Hindutva as an ideology that is respectful of all religions, while also invoking a martyred soldier named Aurangzeb to say that Hindutva is not about looking for shivlings under mosques but laying down one’s life for the pride of the country.
Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna, in a critical editorial against the ED’s probe against Congress Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, had declared that the Modi government is “only short of constructing of constructing poisonous gas chambers built by Hitler eliminating opponents”.
“The BJP not only wants to erase the memories of Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, but it also wants to destroy prospects of the Nehru-Gandhi lineage,” Saamna claimed.

‘Misguided’

Senior Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut claimed that many (Sena) MLAs who have ended up in Gujarat have been misguided and as soon as they realised what was happening, they contacted the party leaders in Mumbai.

“It is true that some of the MLAs are not in Mumbai and some of them were not reachable since last night. But contact has been established with a few MLAs who went out of the city due to a misunderstanding,” Raut claimed.

He also added that Shinde, who is also in Gujarat, has also been contacted. Raut further claimed a frenzy has been whipped by the media to make the Sena look weak. “Not all names mentioned in the media are true. Some leaders including Gulabrao Patil, Sanjay Rathod and Pratap Sarnaik are already at Varsha bungalow [Uddhav Thackeray’s residence],” Raut claimed.

Thackeray has called for a party meeting at the CM’s residence in Mumbai. Meanwhile two of Thackeray’s close aides – Milind Narvekar and Ravindra Phatak – have reached Surat to meet Shinde and other legislators.

However, not all is rosy. According to reports, Shiv Sena has removed Shinde from the position of the chief whip.

Numbers

If indeed Shinde’s battalion sticks to its rebellion, unlike NCP’s Ajit Pawar in 2019, such a move may have been in the making, given Thackeray’s increasing tendency to be seen in the secular-nationalist political camp.

Yet, he will need the support of 37 legislators out of Shiv Sena’s 55 to avoid the anti-defection law.

However, as instances of similar crises in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have showed, the BJP can still form the government if Shinde and other rebels, said to be over 30, decide to resign from the assembly in support of the saffron party.

In that case, the BJP with 106 MLAs (38 short of majority 144) will be positioned well to dislodge the MVA government in an assembly with reduced strength.

BJP’s stance

On Monday, June 20, the first big blow arrived when BJP succeeded in winning five out of the 10 seats in the state legislative council polls. While the BJP had the votes to win only four, it managed all five seats it had contested. This was an outcome of what could only be large-scale cross-voting.

According to BJP Maharashtra president Chandrakant Patil, the party secured 134 preferential votes. Besides its own 106 MLAs, the party had the support of seven other MLAs – both independent and from smaller political parties. The additional 21 votes, Patil indicated, came from the MVA. Fadnavis attributed the cross-voting to “discontent in the MVA government”.

The BJP is understood to have been actively working to exploit the unrest in the ruling coalition.

Patil claimed that though the party (BJP) has not been approached by Shinde or any other Sena leaders so far, it is watching the political developments closely. “Anything can happen in government at any time,” the Maharashtra BJP chief said.

Since all the “rebel” Sena MLAs are currently camped in Surat, political observers are speculating that BJP’s Gujarat state president C.R Patil has had a hand in the current crisis.

The Gujarat BJP chief has categorically denied having made any such move to dismember Shiv Sena’s legislative party.

Maharashtra: Nawab Malik Arrested by ED, Sent to Custody Until March 3

Even as Malik’s lawyer argued that the remand copy used the term “terror funding” very casually in a deliberate attempt to malign the NCP leader’s name, he was sent to the ED’s custody until March 3.

Mumbai: Many in the Maha Vikas Aghadi – the ruling coalition government in Maharashtra – had said months ago, “Nawab Malik’s arrest is inevitable”. This was not because the state cabinet minister was known to be involved in any criminal activities but because of his bold statements that central investigative agencies were allegedly “misusing power” in the state.

As predicted, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Tuesday, February 23, arrested the Maharashtra state minorities and skill development minister following several hours of questioning. He was sent to the ED’s custody until March 3.

The ED assistant director, Niraj Kumar, in the arrest order issued soon after Malik was taken into custody, claimed, “Mohammed Nawab Mohammed Islam Malik @ Nawab Malik… has been found to be guilty of an offence punishable under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (15 of 2003).” Even before Malik’s production in the court, the ED officials had declared him “guilty” of the crime he was arrested for. 

While the arrest order mentions the Act and the sections under which Malik has been charged, the offence is not mentioned. Malik was taken for the routine medical examination soon after his arrest from the agency’s south Mumbai office. He was subsequently produced before the special designated PMLA court.

Even as Malik was being questioned, his social media handle – reportedly handled by his daughter Nilofer – was actively defending him. Soon after his arrest, Malik said, “Ladenge, jeetenge, sabko expose karenge (We will fight, win and expose everyone)”

The ED, represented by additional solicitor general Anil Singh, seeking full 15 days custody of Malik, told the court that Malik’s company was involved in buying a property illegally from Haseena Parker, sister of Dawood, in Kurla at a price much lower than the actual price. According to the ED, the actual owners of the property are Munira and Marium.

“It is their ancestral property and one Salim Patel was handed over the power of attorney only to ensure that the land remains free of any encroachment,” Singh claimed in his argument the court. Patel, the ED claims, was working on the behest of Parker and had later sold the land to a company belonging to Malik’s family. The original owners, whose statements have already been recorded by the ED, have claimed that they were not involved in the transaction and that they did not get a penny for the sale.

Parker, who died several years ago, was actively involved in the deal, the ED has claimed. Another person, Sardar Khan, a 1993 blast convict, was also involved, the agency claimed. The land would have cost anything above Rs. 3.3 crore but was bought for Rs 55 lakhs, Singh told the court.

The ED’s arrest order. Photo: By arrangement

Amit Desai, a senior counsel appearing for Malik, argued that the minister was falsely implicated in a case that was over 20 years old. Desai argued that the complainants have taken a “very convenient route” to complain about an alleged crime committed in 1999 in 2022. “For 15 years you don’t get rent, but you don’t do anything. Also, why against Mr Malik? He is not a member of the gang. Where is the FIR in relation to the predicate offence?” Desai asked.

Desai also said that the remand copy has used the term “terror funding” very casually and it is a deliberate attempt to malign Malik’s name. “It is politically motivated” Desai argued. “The headline (in media) will be terror funding tomorrow. Last 25 years this man is in public service. I do believe our public knows who they are voting for,” Desai said in Malik’s defence.

According to the statements given by Munira, it was Salim Patel who had allegedly committed the offence and got the property sold to another party without her consent. Desai argued that if anyone, the complaint should be against Patel. “That is the requirement of the law. If at all Munira has a grievance against Salim Patel, where is Malik in all this? Malik himself is a victim because a person who didn’t have the title to the property sold the property to him,” Desai argued.

Background

Late last year, when Malik – a five-time MLA from Mumbai’s Anushakti Nagar – actively began criticising the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and more specifically one of the agency’s officer Samir Wankhede for allegedly planting evidence and targeting actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, BJP leaders in the state had accused Malik of being involved in several crimes. 

Malik’s social media claims had made Wankhede a household name and Wankhede’s family had moved the Bombay high court seeking a restraining order against Malik. The NCB leader had also accused Wankhede of falsely implicating his son-in-law Sameer Khan in a drugs case in January 2021.

Among the many allegations made by the BJP leaders, one was by former chief minister and opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis. In a press conference addressed on November 10, Fadnavis had claimed that Malik and his family bought land parcels from people linked with the underworld.

The ED is believed to have registered a case against Malik on the basis of the allegations levelled by Fadnavis. According to Fadnavis, Malik and his family members had allegedly purchased land in Kurla in suburban Mumbai from two persons – Saleem Ishaq Patel and Sardar Shah Wali Khan – using fictitious documents and by paying far less than the actual property rate. While the original value of the plot was around Rs 3 crore, Fadnavis claimed that a company owned by Malik’s company purchased it for a meagre Rs 20 lakh. This property deal was completed in 2007.

There are allegations that the property was allegedly bought by Malik from an aide of Dawood Ibrahim, a fugitive gangster, at a price lower than its prevailing market rate.

Soon after Malik was taken to the ED office, his party colleagues took to social media and addressed the media in his defence. 

Senior NCP leader Supriya Sule shared a video of Malik from December 11, last year. Here, Malik could be heard saying that he has been hearing from the media for a few days that the ED will soon arrest him. This, he claims, was spread by another BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who had accused Malik of siphoning money in a property deal, connected to Wakf board, in Pune.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the BJP is resorting to a tried and tested formula. “Which case have they dug up? It is simple. They take the name of Dawood, especially if there is a Muslim activist (against whom a case is dug up). There is no relation (between the activist concerned and underworld), but it is done.” Pawar said he too was “targeted similarly” in the early 90s when he was the chief minister of Maharashtra, just to create animosity against him. 

“Twenty-five years have since passed. Names from the underworld are time and again used to defame and trouble those taking positions against the Centre,” Pawar further added. 

Malik is the second minister from the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to be arrested. In November last year, the state’s then home minister Anil Deshmukh was arrested on a corruption charge. He has since been in jail. 

‘Recruitment Scam Under Fadnavis Worse than Vyapam’: Maharashtra Congress Chief Asks For Probe

From proxies taking exams to a mismatch in photographs submitted by candidates, The Wire’s investigation, published in October 2020 revealed a well-established scam in the recruitment process for Class ‘C’ and Class ‘D’ posts in various departments in 2019.

Mumbai: The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has appeared to wake up to the multi-crore scam that allegedly occurred in the mega recruitment drive carried out during the tenure of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

On October 25, last year, The Wire had reported a detailed investigation into the rampant exam fraud that allegedly occurred in 2019 in exams through which Class ‘C’ and Class ‘D’ posts were to be filled in 11 departments. On March 5, speaking at the floor of Maharashtra state assembly, former speaker and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole demanded an investigation into the matter.

Similar to The Wire’s observation, Patole too compared the extent of the scam with that of the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam, more commonly known as the Vyapam scam. “This megabharti ghotala (mega recruitment scam) is even bigger than the scam that was unearthed in Madhya Pradesh. In the name of MahaPariskha, the past government has ruined the lives and dreams of several thousand aspirants,” Patole said in the house. 

Patole’s statement is particularly serious as between 2017 and 2019, the MahaPariksha portal was to decide the fate of 38.5 lakh aspirants who had applied for 30,000 vacancies across 25 departments in the state. Like Vyapam, in Maharashtra too several candidates have alleged that the MahaIT department had colluded with the private companies – UST Global and Arceus Infotech Private Limited – hired to carry out the exams in the state. 

The Wire’s report had exposed the well-oiled scam machinery in the recruitment process for Class ‘C’ and Class ‘D’ posts in various departments in 2019. The exams were conducted by the MahaPariksha Portal, which is handled by the Maharashtra Information Technology Corporation Limited or ‘MahaIT’ and oversees the recruitment for several state government posts. 

In May last year, Ahmednagar district collector Rahul Dwivedi had written a damning 12-page report exposing the discrepancies in exams conducted in his district. In Ahmednagar district, at least 14 shortlisted candidates were found to be dubious. Dwivedi had found out that several dummy candidates were planted. Digging deeper, The Wire’s investigation revealed that the fraud was not restricted to Ahmednagar alone but was a widespread scam, plaguing all 34 districts where these state recruitment exams were conducted. From propping up dummy candidates to a mismatch in photographs and signatures, to candidates using spy cameras and microphones while entering the exam hall, The Wire’s probe found myriad methods of fraud.

Also read: The Wire Impact: Maharashtra Government To Probe Recruitment Scam

The two companies – UST Global and Arceus Infotech Private Limited – have come under the radar now, along with Kaustubh Dhavse, MahaIT’s former nominee director. Dhavse, a close confidante of Fadnavis, was also his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and had resigned from his post as a director of MahaIT in December last year, soon after the BJP government in the state fell.

Kaustubh Dhavse (right). Photo: Twitter/@kdhavse

Dhavse was solely responsible for decisions in the department. He had worked with HP, Frost & Sullivan and other companies till Fadnavis pulled him into government in 2014.

Dhavse was given the status of a joint secretary (he was an officer on special duty to the chief minister and is now chief policy advisor to Fadnavis, who is the leader of the opposition) and was also put in charge of the party “war room”.

Following The Wire’s report, revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat had announced that his office would carry out a preliminary inquiry into the allegations. Nationalist Congress Party MLA Rohit Pawar too had sought immediate action. But the government’s zeal to intervene soon died and eventually no action was initiated.

On March 5, following similar reports in media, the issue was back in focus. 

These exams are part of the administrative services governed by the Ministry of General Administration (GAD).

In addition to other portfolios, Fadnavis had handled the GAD and had directly monitored the MahaBharti (mega recruitment) drive in the state. This portfolio is now with the present chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray. Well-placed sources in the Chief Minister’s Office have shared that the chief minister has decided to personally look into the scam now. 

Also read: Exclusive: Audit Found Glaring Discrepancies in Maharashtra Recruitment Exams Under Fadnavis

Besides the collector’s report, a private audit firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), first engaged in 2018, had found that both UST Global and Arceus Infotech Private Limited had failed on almost all counts during the “process” and “technical” review. The audit was carried out for the exams conducted in 2017 for 15 different government departments and with over 10 lakh aspirants applying. It showed that the two companies were not only technically incompetent but had also compromised on the processes, making the exams a complete sham.

Under the process review, the PwC audit had considered 43 different aspects, all of which were marked under the “high risk” category. Processes or gaps requiring “urgent action” were categorised as high risk, and any delay in rectifying it, the PwC report stated, would lead to “significant financial impacts”.

Similarly, of the 14 aspects evaluated under the technical process, 10 fell under the “high-risk category”. Three others were categorised as “medium risk” and only one as “low risk”. Application and network security too were evaluated in this audit and the MahaPariksha portal fared poorly under most parameters. 

Maharashtra Governor Denied Permission to Use State Government Plane

This comes amid uneasy ties between the state’s Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government and the governor, with both sides being critical of each other in the past.

Mumbai: Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was scheduled to travel by a state government aircraft to Dehradun in Uttarakhand on Thursday, but the permission to use the plane was not granted even as the governor had boarded the aircraft, sources said. The governor later took a commercial flight to travel to Dehradun, a statement from the Raj Bhavan said.

This comes amid uneasy ties between the state’s Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government and the governor, with both sides being critical of each other in the past.

The Raj Bhavan statement said the governor’s secretariat had written to the government authorities seeking permission for the use of the aircraft “well in advance” on February 2, 2021. The office of the chief minister was also informed about it, the statement said.

When asked about the issue, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar told reporters in Mumbai he had no clue and will be able to comment after gathering information. “I will take details on reaching the mantralaya [state secretariat] and only then will be able to say anything,” he said.

However, the opposition BJP in Maharashtra accused the state government of being “egoistic” and indulging in “childish acts”, and demanded an apology from the Shiv Sena-led dispensation.

Also read: ‘Don’t Need Hindutva Certificate’: Maharashtra CM, Governor Spar Over Reopening Temples

According to the Raj Bhavan statement, Koshyari is scheduled to preside over the valedictory function of the 122nd Induction Training Programme of IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie in Uttarakhand on Friday.

He was scheduled to depart from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai for Dehradun at 10 am on Thursday, the statement said. Koshyari will travel to Mussoorie from Dehradun.

“Today, on February 11,  2021, the governor reached the CSIM Airport at 1000 hours and boarded the government plane. However, the governor was informed that the permission for the use of government aircraft had not been received,” the statement said. As directed by the governor, tickets for Dehradun were booked for the governor on a commercial aircraft leaving Mumbai at 12:15 pm immediately and accordingly, he left for Dehradun, it said.

Earlier, a source told PTI, “Normally, governors do not wait for the permission to come. He sat in the aircraft. The pilot then said the permission was not given yet.”

Meanwhile, former Maharashtra minister and senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government should apologise for “insulting” the governor. If the state government has purposefully denied permission, it is a “blot” on the state’s reputation, he said.

“If this embarrassment is not intentional, then the state government should suspend the official who failed to issue the flying permission in time to the governor,” he added. The government should apologise and avoid further escalation of the issue, Mungantiwar said.

Also read: Koshyari-Thackeray Spar: Pawar Writes to PM Modi, Expresses ‘Shock’ at Governor’s Tone

BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis accused the state government of being “egoistic” and indulging in “childish acts”. He alleged that the state government has insulted the constitutional post of governor. “It is an unfortunate incident. Such an incident had never happened in the state earlier. Governor is not a person, it is a designation. People come and go, but the designation stays,” he said. The governor is the head of the state. In fact, it is the governor who appoints the chief minister and his cabinet, Fadnavis pointed out.

Notably, state Congress chief Nana Patole on Wednesday said the MVA government has decided to move court over the ‘delay’ by the governor in the appointment of nominated members to the legislative council. The state government recommended 12 names for appointment to the council under the governor’s quota to Koshyari in the first week of November last year. However, Fadnavis on Wednesday said it was the governor’s prerogative to approve or reject names recommended by the state government.

In October last year, during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Koshyari wrote a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, asking if the latter had turned “secular” since he denied permission at that time to reopen temples in the state. The chief minister later said he does not need a “Hindutva certificate” from anyone.

During the pandemic last year, Koshyari also insisted on holding the final-year exams of degree students in the state, but Thackeray at that time rejected the demand.

(PTI)