CM may take Council route; lobbying in Sena camp on

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who was sworn-in as the chief minister of Maharashtra without being a legislator of either of the two Houses, could choose the upper

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who was sworn-in as the chief minister of Maharashtra without being a legislator of either of the two Houses, could choose the upper House (legislative Council) to become a member of the state legislature.

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Thackeray, who assumed charge of his office on Friday, is the eighth chief minister to be sworn-in when he was not a member of the Legislature.

Aaditya was the first Thackeray to enter the electoral politics in the recently held Assembly polls. He was elected from the Worli Assembly constituency by a huge margin.

Any person, who takes oath for the top post in the state government, has a period of six months to get elected as a member of the legislature. Thackeray, too, has six months to decide, but people close to him say he could take the MLC route.

Sena insiders said they could ask a Sena MLC, who is elected by members of the legislative Assembly (MLA), to get Thackeray elected as a member of the upper House. In this case, MLAs from the three parties—Sena, Congress and NCP—would vote for him. Another option, according to a Sena functionary, is to use the seat left vacant after Sena leader Tanaji Sawant resigned, as he is elected as an MLA now.

The seat, however, is not considered safe as it is a local self-government seat from Yavatmal.

A party functionary said the party top brass is not in favour of asking any elected MLA to resign.

“Any MLA would happily give up his or her seat, but it is likely that the Council route would be chosen over the Assembly. It would also involve use of time, effort and fund, as there would be campaigning for the by-poll,” said a functionary.

Meanwhile, as Thackeray is expected to induct more ministers in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, hectic lobbying has begun within the Sena camp.

The Sena has inducted two ministers —Subhash Desai and Eknath Shinde – so far from its quota of 15 ministers.

Among the probables to get ministership in the Thackeray government are Ravindra Waikar, Ramdas Kadam, Diwakar Raote, Dada Bhuse, etc. Sillod MLA Abdul Sattar, who had come to the Sena from the Congress ahead of the election, could be inducted in the next lot of ministers as the Muslim face of the party, functionaries said. Aaditya is not expected to be inducted as a minister at the moment.

Tanaji Sawant, Sanjay Rathod and Gulabrao Patil who were ministers in the previous government could get ministerial berths again.

The Sena could include fresh faces, including Uday Samant, Anil Parab and Ashish Jaiswal, as junior ministers.