This too shall pass, says Sanjay Raut, BJP talks of ‘karma’ as Uddhav gives up CM’s chair

Independent MLA Ravi Rana - who, along with his wife, faced heat from the Mumbai Police over the Hanuman Chalisa row - said Thackeray should have resigned earlier itself.

Minutes after the Supreme Court refused to stay Maharashtra governor's direction to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to take a floor test on Thursday, Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray announced that he is resigning from the post of chief minister of Maharashtra as he “did not want to play number games”.

Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray. (Pratik Chorge/HT file photo)

Moments later, celebrations began in the Bharatiya Janata Party camp as party leaders were huddled to a legislative meeting. Former chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was seen eating sweets while those around him danced in a video shared by news agency ANI. This as the party repeatedly claimed that “the political crisis is Shiv Sena’s internal matter and it is simply in wait-and-watch mode.”

Meanwhile, Sena leader Sanjay Raut shared an image on Twitter just after Thackeray stepped down from the CM post - the image shows a building titled ‘democracy’ collapsing as one of its pillars titled ‘court of justice’ (nyaypalika) is taken out. The image could be interpreted as the fall of democracy due to the judiciary’s verdict on the current crisis. “Justice will be respected! This is ‘agnipariksha’ (an ordeal). This too shall pass. Jai Maharashtra!” read Raut’s tweet loosely translated from Hindi. He also shared a couple of other tweets saying Thackeray made his way out with grace.

Congress unit in Madhya Pradesh tweeted: “Another government was taken down for treason and power. Thanks Supreme (Court), Democracy is being murdered under your protection.”

BJP’s Amit Malviya called Thackeray’s ‘lack of control on his party’ a fall from grace. "Balasaheb Thackeray was a man who could control governments, despite not being in power. On the other hand, his son couldn't even control his party, despite being in power. What a fall from grace," the party's IT department in-charge tweeted.

"Karma does not spare anyone," BJP general secretary CT Ravi, who is in charge of his party's affairs in the state, was quoted as saying by PTI.

Independent MLA Ravi Rana - who, along with his wife, faced heat from the Mumbai Police over the Hanuman Chalisa row - said Thackeray should have resigned earlier itself. “The chief minister should have resigned earlier, the strength that was in his clenched fist has been exposed. The CM was running on the ideas of Congress and left behind the idea of Hindutva. Eknath Shinde faction has rebelled to stay true to Balasaheb's views,” Rana was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.