Maharashtra Political Crisis Live Updates: Section 144 In Place In Mumbai Till July 10

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday claimed that the rebel Maharashtra ministers in the Eknath Shinde camp will lose their posts 'in 24 hours.' Earlier in the day, the party's national executive authorised Sena president and state chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to take action against the rebel MLAs led by Shinde, a senior cabinet minister.

Talking to a Marathi news channel in the evening, Raut said 'the process of their removal is on.' "Ministers like Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Sandipan Bhumre were considered to be loyal Shiv Sena workers who were made cabinet ministers by Uddhav Thackeray....the party has given them enough. They have taken the wrong path and will lose their posts in 24 hours," he said.

Other ministers in the rebel camp are Shambhuraj Desai, Abdul Sattar and Bachchu Kadu. Kadu heads the Prahar Janshakti Party which is part of the Sena-led ruling alliance.

(Source: PTI)

Scores of supporters of rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde assembled near his house in Thane district on Saturday with saffron flags and large portraits of party founder Bal Thackeray and regional strongman Anand Dighe.

Among those who addressed the gathering was Shinde's son Shrikant Shinde, who is Sena MP from Kalyan here and whose Ulhasnagar office was pelted with stones during the day by 8-10 men shouting pro-Thackeray slogans.

The Kalyan MP said Sena leaders and ordinary Sainiks suffered a lot at the hands of the NCP after the Maha Vikas Aghadi was formed post the state Assembly polls in late 2019.

He claimed NCP, which holds the finance portfolio in the Thackeray government, did not allot funds to constituencies of Sena MLAs, and meetings and efforts within the Thackeray-led party to set things right were in vain.

(Source: PTI)

The national executive of the Shiv Sena passed a resolution authorizing Maharashtra Chief Minister and party chief Uddhav Thackeray to take action against the rebels.

The executive also passed a resolution that no other political outfit can use the name Shiv Sena and the name of its founder, late Bal Thackeray.

(Source: PTI)

The Mumbai police have deployed its personnel at the city-based offices of various political parties and leaders, including ministers, MLAs and MPs, and their residences as a security measure, an official told PTI.

The prohibitory orders issued by the city police under CrPC section 144 in the first week of June, ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, will continue to remain in place till July 10. It bans the assembly of five or more persons at one place.

(Source: PTI)

The national executive meeting of the Shiv Sena is underway at the party's headquarters in the city, where Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who is also the party president, is expected to take a decision on the action against the rebel MLAs, including Eknath Shinde.

Thackeray was supposed to chair the meeting virtually from his residence 'Matoshree'. However, he reached the party headquarters - Shiv Sena Bhavan - at Dadar in central Mumbai.

(Source: PTI)

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said the MVA government in Maharashtra no longer enjoyed majority in the legislature as over two-third MLAs of the Shiv Sena were with rebel leader Eknath Shinde.

"Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde has support of more than two-third MLAs, thus reducing the MVA government to a minority. Fadnavis told me the BJP has no role to play in this development. The BJP has neither initiated this rebellion nor supported it, he told me. The BJP will wait and watch," the Union minister of state of social justice and empowerment said.

(Source: PTI)

Dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde alleged that the Maharashtra government has withdrawn the security cover provided at the residences of 16 rebel legislators, including himself, and dubbed the action as "political vendetta."

Shinde, who is currently camping in Guwahati with the rebel legislators, tweeted a letter signed by the 16 MLAs that is addressed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil.

In the letter, the legislators said CM Thackeray and the leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance will be responsible if any harm is caused to their family members.

In the letter, the legislators demanded that their security cover be reinstated.

However, Walse Patil said the chief minister and the home department did not order the removal of security cover of any MLA in the state.

(Source: PTI)

How did this happen? How did the chief minister not have a clue about a rebellion of such scale? Does he have a legal remedy?

To answer this and more, BQ Prime’s Kaushik Vaidya talks to Vaibhav Purandare, deputy resident editor at the Times of India and the author of ‘Bal Thackeray & The Rise of the Shiv Sena’.

Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde's move to camp in Guwahati, with the support of at least 37 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs wrote to Maharashtra Assembly's Deputy Speaker, declaring that rebel leader Eknath Shinde remains their leader in the House.

Meanwhile, NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday evening met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence. State NCP president Jayant Patil and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar accompanied Pawar at Thackeray's private residence in Bandra area.

The Shiv Sena has sent the names of four more rebel MLAs to the Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker for initiating action of disqualification against them.

The party has already given names of 12 MLAs to the deputy speaker including leader of the rebel camp Eknath Shinde, seeking their disqualification.

(Source: PTI)