Eknath Shinde proves majority in Maharashtra House

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde proved his government’s majority on the floor of the assembly on Monday by winning the trust vote with ease and completing the arc on an unlikely rebellion that began exactly three weeks ago and led to the collapse of the previous government.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde proved his government’s majority on the floor of the assembly on Monday by winning the trust vote with ease and completing the arc on an unlikely rebellion that began exactly three weeks ago and led to the collapse of the previous government.

(Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

In the 287-member assembly, Shinde — who has 39 other Shiv Sena dissidents backing him, in addition to the Bharatiya Janata Party — secured 164 votes.

Still smarting from the collapse of its government last week, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) could only muster 99 votes. In the 24 hours between the Speaker’s election and the trust vote, the MVA lost eight more lawmakers — it got 107 votes in the Sunday election but only 99 on Monday — underlining the daily disintegration in the three-party alliance.

After winning the trust vote, Shinde made an emotional address and repeated that his was the real Shiv Sena, not the faction led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

“Our numbers in the legislative party are now above 40. They will increase in the future. Bharat Gogawale has been recognised as the chief whip and I as the group leader. Those who have defied the whip will face action,” he said, alluding to the 15 Shiv Sena lawmakers, including Uddhav’s son Aaditya Thackeray, who voted against Shinde on Monday.

The BJP-Shinde alliance also passed a confidence motion in favour of speaker Rahul Narwekar, empowering him to act against the 15 Sena MLAs. This is to counter the no-confidence motion against Narwekar that was moved by the Shiv Sena on Sunday.

Except for the Speaker who was presiding over the proceedings, 20 lawmakers were absent — including 12 from the Congress, five from the Nationalist Congress Party (two former ministers, Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, are in jail on graft charges), two from the BJP, and one from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). In addition, three legislators — two from the Samajwadi Party and one from AIMIM — abstained from voting though they were present in the House.

Congress’s absentees included heavyweights Ashok Chavan, Vijay Wedettiwar, Dheeraj Deshmukh, Praniti Shinde, Jitesh Antapurkar, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Raju Awale, Mohan Hambarde, Kunal Patil, Madhavrao Jawalgaonkar and Shirish Chaudhary; many of them turned up late and were found running to enter the House. Those missing from the NCP ranks in the House included Dattatray Bharane, Anna Bansode and Sangram Jagtap. Both the BJP members who were absent, Mukta Kadam and Laxman Jagtap, are unwell.

In his address after winning the trust vote, Shinde struck a conciliatory note. “Everyone should feel that this is their government. All religions will be respected and no religion will be disrespected in this coalition government,” he said.

“The people had wanted this government to come to power two-and-a-half years ago,” said Shinde, later telling reporters that Sena legislators had felt “stifled” in the previous MVA government. He assured that his government would not be vindictive and neither would it needlessly review the previous government’s decisions. “We will review only those decisions which were incorrect,” he told the media.

The new CM struck an emotional tone when he spoke of his family.

“They attacked my family...My father is alive, my mother died. I could not give much time to my parents. They would be asleep when I came and would go to work when I slept. I could not give much time to my son Shrikant. My two children died - at the time, Anand Dighe consoled me. I used to think, what is there to live for? I will stay with my family,” he said.

Sunil Prabhu of the Shiv Sena, comprehensively outnumbered on Monday, attacked Narwekar’s decision to recognise Shinde and Gogawale as the group leader and chief whip of the party, respectively. “Democratic norms are being crushed underfoot,” he protested. His troubles were further exacerbated when yet another MLA, Sanjay Bangar, switched sides, swelling the rebel ranks to 40.

The House proceedings concluded with the election of former deputy CM, NCP’s Ajit Pawar, as the leader of opposition in assembly.

The trust vote victory brought proceedings a full circle for Shinde, who set off with a group of loyal lawmakers on June 20, hours after the then MVA government suffered a setback in the legislative council elections.

He and his loyalists camped in a hotel in Surat, before flying to Guwahati and staying for 11 days there — even as the ranks of the rebels swelled with almost daily desertions from Thackeray’s camp. The government finally fell on June 29 after the Supreme Court refused to suspend a trust vote called by governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

Shinde took oath as CM on June 30, with former CM Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.