Maha crisis: Allies vow to stand by Uddhav as Sena makes an offer to rebel MLAs

Maharashtra political crisis: In a tweet, NCP leader Jayant Patil said his party would stand firmly by Thackeray till the end.

Allies of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra extended their their support to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government moments after Sena leader Sanjay Raut said his party was ready to discuss pulling out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if rebel lawmakers, led by Eknath Shinde, returned within the next 24 hours.

File photo of Shiv Sena supremo and Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray with NCP boss Sharad Pawar. 

In a tweet, NCP leader Jayant Patil said his party would stand firmly by Thackeray till the end. "The Maha Vikas Aghadi is a government established for the development and welfare of Maharashtra. We will stand firmly with Uddhav Thackeray till the end," he wrote in Marathi.

Read here for live updates of the crisis

Later, reporters asked him about Raut's ‘pulling out of MVA’ comment, Patil said, "They may have thought of something and said it. We will speak to them. They have not said anything to us directly. We won't comment on it yet.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said his party was ready for a floor test and was standing by the Shiv Sena to stop the BJP from coming to power. He, however, added that is the Sena wanted to form an alliance with anyone, his party did not have a problem about it.

“We're with them (Shiv Sena) to stop the BJP from coming to power. This game is happening due to the ED... The Congress is ready for a floor test. We're with MVA and will remain so. If they (Shiv Sena) want to form an alliance with anyone, we don't have a problem,” Patole was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also said his party wanted to work together within the MVA. “The present Maharashtra government is doing developmental work in the state. The BJP trying to destabilise the Maharashtra government. They did the same in the past too in Karnataka, MP and Goa,” Kharge said.

The Sena, NCP and Congress had formed the MVA government after the Uddhav-led party severed decades-old ties with the BJP in 2019 over power-sharing issues.

Shinde, whose latest moves have triggered a survival crisis for the MVA, has called the alliance an unnatural and spoke about how Sena has been losing its Hindutva ideals for the sake of power.

A day ago, NCP boss Sharad Pawar paid a visit to Thackeray's residence following the latter's virtual address to the state wherein he said he was ready to resign even if one Sena MLA can say on his face that he had lost trust in him.

According to reports, at the meeting, Pawar is said to have discussed leadership options with Thackeray. Late in the night, Thackeray moved back from his official residence Varsha to the family home Matoshree with his wife and sons even as Raut claimed that Sena supremo would continue to remain chief minister of Maharashtra.