In a major and first relief to rebel Shiv Sena lawmakers led by PWD Minister Eknath Shinde, the Supreme Court kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings before the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly till July 11 and sought responses to pleas by rebel MLAs questioning the legality of notices seeking their disqualification.
The Shinde camp had filed two petitions before the apex court, one by Shinde and other by Bharat Bhagwakar who questioned the legality in issuing disqualification notice to rebel MLAs now camping in a five star hotel in Guwahati.
During the process of disqualification notice issued by Deputy Speaker of State Assembly,Narhari Zirwal, the Shinde camp had moved a +No Confidence+ against Deputy Speaker himself. This caught him unaware and though he asked the rebel MLAs to appear before him on June 27 (Today) by evening, prompting rebels to knock the doors of apex court.
The ongoing battle thus shifted to New Delhi and in a major relief to rebels, Supreme Court extended today’s date of appearance to July 11. With this the rebels have been granted a breather and time to move their next step.
In all probability, now the Governor may convene State Assembly as the rebels have withdrawn their support to the MVA government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The Governor after satisfying himself verifying the contents of the letters, can summon a special session of Assembly for floor test.
In the meanwhile the BJP camp led by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is upbeat and a series of meetings are going on to capitalise the opportunity, in case the Thackeray government falls on the floor of the House.
They will in an obvious move seek support of rebels who are now more than 39 besides independents to form the next government. Its a question of time only, may one or two days.
