First quit MVA to make way for a dialogue, says rebel Sena faction

The primary condition the rebel legislators have laid down before initiating any dialogue towards reconciliation with the Shiv Sena leadership is that the party must pull out of the ruling coalition - Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)

The primary condition the rebel legislators have laid down before initiating any dialogue towards reconciliation with the Shiv Sena leadership is that the party must pull out of the ruling coalition - Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Shiv Sena leaders Deepak Kesarkar and Eknath Shinde in Guwahati ANI

The Eknath Shinde-led camp on Tuesday turned down the overtures by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray wherein he had described himself as the “head of the [Shiv Sena] family” and asked them return to Mumbai and find a way out of the crisis through discussions.

“He [Thackeray] has made such appeals earlier and issued a video statement. But how can he ask us to return when they [Sena] have not left the MVA? There is no logic in this,” Deepak Kesarkar, former minister and the group’s informal spokesperson, told HT from Guwahati. He said the outreach by Thackeray may have come late when “the time was running out.”

The dissident MLAs have also said that they will not formally withdraw their support to the MVA government or move a no-confidence motion against it, considering the bad optics as Thackeray, even notionally, continues to be their leader. However, in the event of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bringing such a motion, they will back the opposition.

“This is a psychological game. They want to show that we have expressed lack of confidence in our own leader [Thackeray] and to inflame sentiments in Maharashtra. In any case, a vote of no-confidence will have to be tabled and it does not matter who is doing it. We will have to vote against the MVA government. However, we are not asking Uddhav saheb to quit as we are his partymen,” Kesarkar said, adding that the final strategy would be decided by Shinde.

Legislators from the Shinde faction said they were likely to return to Mumbai this week.

Kesarkar, who represents Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg, pointed out that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had already declared that they were ready to face a no-trust motion in the assembly.

Most rebel legislators have claimed that one reason for participating in Shinde’s revolt was the fear that their counterparts from the Congress and the NCP – the other two partners in the coalition – were stealing a march on them in their constituencies.

They have complained that the NCP, which controls crucial portfolios like home, finance, housing, water resources, and rural development, was dominating them in the government and had the upper hand in allocation of funds for development works, transfers, and postings.

They have also said that the social and political support base of Sena often clashed with that of these two “secular” parties and that the BJP, its fellow Hindutva co-traveler, is their “natural ally”.