Shiv Sena

In a terse letter to Shinde on Thursday, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, who quit as Chief Minister on June 29, said: "You have been indulging in anti-party activities and have voluntarily given up your membership of Shiv Sena." Accordingly, in exercise of the powers vested in him as the 'Shivsena Paksha Pramukha', Thackeray said he has removed Shinde as a Shiv Sena leader in the party organisation.

The plea said till date there is no dispute regarding the leadership position of Uddhav Thackeray as the president of the Shiv Sena political party. It cited the resolution passed in national executive meeting of the Shiv Sena political party held on June 25, this year, where Thackeray's leadership was re-affirmed and the conduct of the delinquent MLAs led by Eknath Shinde has been criticised.

Earlier, capping off a series of startling political events of the past 10 days, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office to rebel camp leader Eknath Shinde as the 20th Chief Minister of the state, while BJP's Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as the Deputy CM. In an interview to a local news channel here, Kesarkar said that the group following Shinde will remain as Shiv Sena.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing the rebel MLAs, submitted before the bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala that the top court, in its judgments, had said the disqualification proceedings against the MLAs have no bearing on the floor test in the House. Kaul said that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is "in a hopeless minority within the party itself, forget the House".

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Prabhu, contended before a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala that the Governor is bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. He added that the Governor may act on the advice of ministers or not, but definitely cannot act on the advice of the opposition.

Prabhu's plea said the Governor's communication, issued on June 28, which was received by them at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, is in complete defiance of the fact that the top court is seized of the issue of the disqualification proceedings against the rebel Sena MLAs. It contended that the top court is considering the validity of the disqualification proceedings and has kept the matter for hearing on July 11, and the issue of disqualification is directly connected/interlinked with the issue of floor test.

Rebel leader and Minister Eknath Shinde announced a contribution of Rs 51 lakh to the Assam Chief Minister Relief Fund on behalf of all the Sena MLAs and his supporters camping there. "We have decided to help with Rs 51 lakh to the Assam CM Relief Fund for the brothers in the flood-hit areas on behalf of all the Shiv Sena MLAs and my supporter legislators," tweeted Shinde on his warm gesture.

Speaking to mediapersons outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati, Shinde said, "We are with the Shiv Sena and I'll be in Mumbai soon." Shinde added, "50 MLAs are here on their own. No MLA is suppressed here, and everyone is happy. The MLAs are with us at the Guwahati hotel.

"Other than a couple of meetings within themselves, they have no other serious activity in Guwahati. To pass their time, they are playing various indoor games including chess and ludo to keep themselves engaged," a source close to the MLAs told the media on condition of anonymity. The rebel legislators led by disgruntled Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde are not allowed to go outside the hotel. Initially, the MLAs booked rooms of the hotel for about a week.

The ED has asked Raut to appear in its Mumbai office on Tuesday to get his statement recorded. Soon after receiving the summon, the Shiv Sena leader took to Twitter to allege that he was being victimised on the instructions of the Centre. "I just came to know that the ED has summoned me. Good! There are big political developments in Maharashtra.