Twelve rebel Congress members of Legislative Assembly on Monday told Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar that he can go ahead with their disqualification for voting against the Andhra Pradesh government on a no-confidence motion, and later said that they were ready to face by-polls.
The inexperienced Uddhav is forced to match up against 24x7 political pros Amit Shah and Narendra Modi who have the added advantage of wielding power at the Centre, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a batch of cross-petitions of Uddhav Thackeray and CM Eknath Shinde factions pertaining to the Maharashtra political crisis.
Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy has once again demonstrated his political acumen by bagging a seat in the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance just last year.
Shinde had urged Uddhav Thackeray to renew the party's alliance with the BJP.
In a virtual address to party corporators, he said the common Shiv Sena workers were his "wealth", and as long as they were with him, he did not care about criticism by others.
n fast-changing developments, Khaliko Pul, rebel-turned chief minister, who was unseated by the Supreme Court, returned to the party fold with 30 dissident MLAs.
Ramesh Meena, who was among those BSP legislators who made the switch to Congress, said: "The chief minister should honestly tell how much money was paid to us when we joined Congress and left the the BSP in the last Congress government."
'The BJP used Shinde and Shiv Sena to decimate Uddhav Thackeray, humiliate him by taking away his party as well as party symbol.' 'The Shiv Sena and Eknath Shinde have served their purpose.'
The rivalry between the local leaders of the two parties could be a cause of concern for Shinde.
The Congress in Rajasthan plunged into a crisis on Sunday as several MLAs loyal to Ashok Gehlot submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Sachin Pilot as the next chief minister, their rebellion erupting just ahead of a Congress Legislature Party meeting.
As per the bill, the salary and allowances of legislators have been raised from Rs 55,000 to Rs 1,05,000 per month, an increase of 90.91 per cent.
However, Shiv Sena spokesperson and MLA Sanjay Shirsat on Tuesday claimed Ajit Pawar-led NCP joining the Sena-BJP government is as per a larger strategy ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls scheduled next year.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought to put up a brave face as he conducted a post-mortem on Friday of the results of the legislative council election from the Assembly quota.
'The message the BJP is sending is that they are in no way responsible for Uddhav's downfall and it was only Shinde who is to be blamed.'
The 60-member Meghalaya assembly had 30 Congress MLAs. Friday's resignation comes days after another Congress MLA, P N Syiem, resigned from the party.
The future course of Karnataka politics may be decided on Monday by a three-judge bench of the high court comprising Justices Abdul Nasir, Mohan Shanthan Goudar and A S Bopanna. The bench will deliver a verdict on the validity of the suspension of five independent Members of Legislative Assembly by Speaker K G Bopaiah.
Nine Congress MLAs, most of them Bahuguna loyalists, rebelled against Harish Rawat and supported BJP's claim to form a government.
'They are going to be clubbed with the Lok Sabha elections which are six months away.' 'These people who are ruling Tamil Nadu know very well that they cannot win another election.'
A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices R Subhash Reddy and A S took note of the submission of the main opposition party of the state that speaker has not been taking any decision on the MLAs for last three years and issued notices to him, assembly secretary and 11 lawmakers including O Panneerselvam.
The Supreme Court on Thursday virtually paved the way for government formation in Arunachal Pradesh by vacating its order on maintenance of status quo.
Chavan was reacting to Sena MP Sanjay Raut's statement earlier in the day that the Sena was 'ready to consider' the demand of the MLAs led by Eknath Shinde that it should end the MVA alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
While Uddhav Thackeray will address his party's Dussehra rally at the sprawling Shivaji Park in Dadar, the traditional venue of the event where Bal Thackeray charged up his workers with his fiery oratory for more than four decades, Shinde's rally will be at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
In eight districts of Alwar, Bharatpur, Bundi, Dausa, Dholpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Tonk, the Congress in the 2018 assembly elections had won 29 out of 42 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party got only six.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa was on Friday unanimously elected its legislature party leader, paving the way for her return as a chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the fourth time.
Samandar Patel, 52, an Other Backward Classes leader from Jawad area of Neemuch, had joined the BJP when Scindia and MLAs loyal to him rebelled against the Congress in March 2020, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.
Panneerselvam had opposed the petition saying the whip was issued only to the 122 MLAs who were then camping in a resort and not his erstwhile group.
The four-day old Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government will face the floor test on July 4 during the special two-day session of the Legislative Assembly beginning on Mumbai Sunday.
The Pema Khandu government claimed support of 49 of the 60 MLAs, including 35 of Peoples' Party of Arunachal legislators
Saini, 54, a low profile OBC leader, rose through the ranks in the party and was unanimously elected as the leader of the state BJP's legislature group at a meeting held in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
One more Shiv Sena MLA from the Uddhav Thackeray camp joined CM Shinde's faction, taking its tally to 40.
According to the police, these villages have never seen unfurling or hoisting of the national flag since 1947, but that will change when its residents will join the rest of the country in celebrating Republic Day, which commemorates the day when the Constitution came into effect in 1950.
MVA allies Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress on Thursday asserted that they will continue to support Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose party Shiv Sena is facing a rebellion in its legislative ranks, threatening the stability of his government.
Fourteen of the 17 independent MLAs of the dissolved house held a meeting in Patna on Saturday night.
Maharashtra legislative assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Monday said that after the Supreme Court's May 11 verdict, he will have to first recognise in the House which faction of the Shiv Sena is the political party before going ahead with any other decision.
Referring to the episode, Shinde said he was not worried for himself, but was aware that he had the responsibility of 50 MLAs.
The tit for tat actions came a day after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other NCP MLAs who were inducted as ministers.
In a veiled warning to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday said there will be an 'earthquake' if he started speaking.
Raje however, said that "Gehlot's 'praises' is a big conspiracy" against her.
The political drama in Rajasthan over leadership change continued on Monday with MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot remaining non-committal on holding a meeting with Congress observers, who are likely to return to Delhi to apprise the high command about the developments.
