Maharashtra Political Crisis: We are ready to consider exiting out of MVA if this is the will of all MLAs, but for that, they have to come here and discuss it with the CM, said Sanjay Raut.
Mumbai: Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said that the party is ready to consider leaving the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance if the rebel MLAs want. However, Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP said that the rebels should return to Mumbai in the next 24 hours and discuss their concerns with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Raut’s remark comes just moments after he said that the MVA government, which also includes the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), is ready for a floor test, claiming 21 rebels are in touch with Thackeray and are ready to return to Mumbai.
The rebel MLAs, who are in Assam’s Guwahati, want Sena to part ways from the NCP and Congress, and rejoin hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They are being led by Eknath Shinde, who has claimed to have the support of 42 MLAs – 35 from Shiv Sena and seven independents.
The Shiv Sena, Congress, and the NCP have 55, 53, and 44 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly. The Sena and the BJP, which has 106 MLAs in the House, had contested the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections together, but the Sena parted ways with the saffron party following differences over the chief ministerial position.
If the Sena leaves the MVA alliance, the BJP – being the single largest party in the House – can stake claim to form the government. Till now, the saffron party has said that it is keeping an eye on the situation in Maharashtra, adding that no Sena MLA is in touch with it.
“Our Maharashtra leader Devendra Fadnavis and all our central leaders are keeping an eye on it. He (Devendra Fadanvis) is capable to take a decision in the interest of the state,” Goa Chief Minister and BJP leader Pramod Sawant was quoted as saying by ANI.
