Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, June 29
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today resigned from his post after the Supreme Court refused to stay the floor test for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the Maharashtra Assembly on Thursday. Stating that he is “not interested in playing the numbers game,” Thackeray said, “Last week I had left the chief minister’s official residence, today I am resigning,” following the Supreme Court verdict on social media. taking moments of
Thackeray also appealed to the party workers not to take to the streets in protest.
The outgoing chief minister said he was happy that in his last cabinet meeting, he was able to fulfill Shiv Sena founder Balsaheb Thackeray’s dream of renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad.
Thanking MVA alliance partners, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for their cooperation and support in running the government, Thackeray asked the Eknath Shinde-led rebels the reason for their anger against him. “Congress leader Ashok Chavan told me that if the rebels wanted, the Congress would walk out of the government and support from outside. Those who were expected to leave me stood by me while my own me left.
“The rebels who grew politically because of Shiv Sena and Balasaheb Thackeray get happiness and satisfaction from the removal of his son from the chief minister’s post. I don’t want to get into the numbers game. It would be a shame for me to see. If someone from my own party The partner would also have stood against me,” he said.
Taking a dig, Thackeray said the governor upheld democracy by acting on the BJP’s letter to order a floor test within 24 hours, wishing he did the same with the MVA’s proposal to nominate MLCs pending at the Raj Bhavan. Would have done it.
Thackeray also resigned from the Legislative Council after a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala passed orders on a petition by Shiv Sena Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu challenging the direction of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. However, according to some Congress leaders, he should have delivered the speech on the floor of the House for it to be recorded.
While the rebels led by Eknath Shinde demanded an immediate floor test, the Thackeray side wanted it to be postponed for a week as the issue of disqualification of 16 army rebels was still pending.
With the nine-day long Maharashtra political deadlock in favor of the rebels and the opposition BJP, the Maharashtra cabinet headed by Thackeray today approved renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar and adjoining Osmanabad as Dharashiv.
The long-pending move by the Shiv Sena-led MVA was seen as a clear bid by the troubled Thackeray to underscore his party’s ‘Hindutva’ lineage, which has been challenged by Shinde and the opposition BJP. The cabinet in its last meeting had also approved to name Navi Mumbai airport as DY Patil International Airport.
The decisions were taken even when the Supreme Court was hearing Prabhu’s plea. Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Thackeray thanked the ministers and bureaucrats for their cooperation during the last two-and-a-half years, saying that his own people have brought the situation on him.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis is now expected to take oath on July 1. He is expected to be called by the governor on Thursday. Shinde, who was camping in Guwahati since last week along with most of the party MLAs and several independents, reached Goa. Leaders from his side said that they have full respect for Thackeray but he should have left the MVA earlier. “The state will now march ahead on the path of progress under the leadership of Fadnavis,” he said.