A day after the state cabinet had decided to write to Governor to urge him to nominate chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray to the legislative Council at the earliest, a delegation of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ministers led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar met Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday evening at Raj Bhavan. The meeting is seen as a pressure tactic on the Raj Bhavan to take the decision over Thackeray’s nomination to the legislative Council.
However, according to sources, the Governor has indicated that he would consult the Centre before taking a decision, which could mean that Thackeray should talk to Delhi to resolve the deadlock. “Milind Narvekar, a close aide of the CM, informally visited Raj Bhavan a couple of times in the past few days. It has been implied to him that Thackeray reaching out to Delhi would clear the decks for his nomination by Governor,”said a Raj Bhavan official. When HT spoke to some senior Shiv Sena leaders, they said the CM would take a call on the matter.
With under a month left for Thackeray to fulfil the constitutional requirement of getting elected to either of the houses of the state legislature, the alleged delay by the Governor has kept the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over Thackeray and the state government. Thackeray, who is not a member of either of the house of the state legislature, took oath as the CM on November 28. He could lose the post if he is not elected to legislature by May 27.
“The cabinet has again recommended Uddhav Thackeray [to be nominated]; a letter pertaining to it was submitted to the governor. The group leaders of the three parties of the Maharashtra [Vikas] Aghadi, deputy chief minister and Chhagan Bhujbal met the Governor and yet again requested him to take a decision at the earliest on the recommendations that have made by the cabinet twice,” said Jayant Patil, state minister and Maharashtra president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who was among the delegation. Patil however, declined to comment if the delay could be politically motivated to create instability in the state.
{{/usCountry}}“The cabinet has again recommended Uddhav Thackeray [to be nominated]; a letter pertaining to it was submitted to the governor. The group leaders of the three parties of the Maharashtra [Vikas] Aghadi, deputy chief minister and Chhagan Bhujbal met the Governor and yet again requested him to take a decision at the earliest on the recommendations that have made by the cabinet twice,” said Jayant Patil, state minister and Maharashtra president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who was among the delegation. Patil however, declined to comment if the delay could be politically motivated to create instability in the state.
{{/usCountry}}The other minsters who had visited the Raj Bhavan included Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Anil Parab and Congress’s Balasaheb Thorat and Aslam Shaikh.
Earlier, the polls for the legislative Council were scheduled for April 24. However, they were postponed due to the pandemic, following which the Maharashtra cabinet recommended the Governor to appoint Thackeray as a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) to avoid a constitutional crisis in the state.
On April 9, the state cabinet had cleared a proposal recommending Thackeray’s nomination to one of the vacant seats of under the Governor’s quote in the upper house of the state legislature. However, 19 days on, the Raj Bhavan has not taken a decision over the nomination, prompting the delegation to meet the Governor on the issue.
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