GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 29th Oct. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stated that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will not be disqualified. However, if that were to happen, Shinde would be elected as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and would still retain his position as Chief Minister.
On October 17, the Supreme Court granted state assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar a final opportunity to provide a realistic timeframe for deciding the cross-petitions filed by rival factions of the Shiv Sena.
These petitions seek the disqualification of each other’s MLAs following a split in the party last year.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear pleas filed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar bloc of the NCP on Monday.
These pleas seek a direction to Narwekar to promptly decide on disqualification petitions against certain MLAs.
Fadnavis spoke to TV9 Marathi channel on Saturday and expressed confidence that Shinde would not be disqualified. He also mentioned that even if Shinde were to be disqualified, they would ensure his election to the legislative council so that he could continue as Chief Minister.
Fadnavis emphasized that the next election would be contested under Shinde’s leadership.
Previously, the Supreme Court criticized the state assembly speaker for the delay in deciding the pleas filed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction for the disqualification of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and several MLAs loyal to him.
The court stated that the speaker cannot defy the orders of the top court.
Similar disqualification petitions have been filed by the Shinde faction against lawmakers supporting Thackeray.
On September 18, the Supreme Court directed the speaker to provide a timeline for adjudicating the disqualification petitions against Shinde and Shiv Sena MLAs who had joined forces with the BJP to form a new government in June 2022.
The court requested Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to inform the bench about the time schedule to be set by the speaker for deciding the pleas for disqualification of 56 MLAs, including lawmakers from the Shinde faction.
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