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Updated May 11th, 2023 at 19:04 IST

Sena Vs Sena LIVE | 'This is victory of Balasaheb Thackeray's vision', says Maha CM Shinde

In a big jolt to Uddhav Thackeray, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that it cannot order the restoration of the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi govt. The top court also refused to interfere with the formation of the Eknath Shinde government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party as Uddhav resigned without facing a floor test.

Reported by: Ajay Sharma
Sena Vs Sena
Image: PTI | Image: self
7: 04 IST, May 11th 2023

After the big verdict of Supreme court in favour of Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction, Maharshtra Chief Minister said, "This is the victory of the vision of Balasaheb Thackeray, the thinking of the Shiv Sena and the feelings that the common people had for our government. It is the success of the mandate that the people had given in the elections. And according to Balasaheb Thackeray’s thinking, those who tried to harass have been given a perfect response with the order given by the Supreme Court today. 

5: 24 IST, May 11th 2023

Shiv Sena workers and supporters of Eknath Shinde faction celebrate in Pune after the Supreme Court verdict on Maharashtra political row.

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5: 18 IST, May 11th 2023

Former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in an exclusive conversation with Republic said that Uddhav government was not in majority and he himself resigned.

He said, "Uddhav government was not in majority and when all these developments took place, he himself resigned."

4: 36 IST, May 11th 2023

Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar holds briefing after the Supreme Court's decision on Supreme Court's verdict on Maharashtra political crisis, says 'to decide on disqualification soon.'

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4: 33 IST, May 11th 2023

Former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari exlsuively spoke to Republic on Supreme Court's verdict on Maharashtra political crisis.

4: 07 IST, May 11th 2023

When asked if Sharad Pawar will be the main face of the Opposition alliance, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar says, "There will be nothing more delightful than that...I have told him that he has to work strongly not only for his party but the entire country." Sharad Pawar says, "We have to work together, face will be decided later."

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2: 56 IST, May 11th 2023

Speaking on the SC verdict on the Shiv Sena row, Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Nawekar said, "I don't think the court gave the order on the political situation, it's a meritorious judgment. It was a fair judgment. So, I welcome the judgment delivered by Supreme Court."

2: 54 IST, May 11th 2023

"I won't talk about what Supreme Court said about the then Maharashtra Governor, but I would say that he acted as per the situation at the time. What if the Floor test had happened and their (MVA) govt had failed it?" Shinde questioned. Adding further he said, "Is he (Uddhav Thackeray) above SC or ECI that he will not let us appoint our Whip or any other office bearer and not let us use the name Shiv Sena."

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2: 39 IST, May 11th 2023

DyCM Devendra Fadnavis slammed Uddhav over the latter's remark that he resigned due to morality. " It doesn't suit Uddhav Thackeray to talk about morality. I want to ask him if had he forgotten his morals when he went with NCP and Congress for the CM post. He has not resigned on mortal ground. Uddhav resigned as he was scared and ashamed. He knew that his people were leaving. He knew that he won't win the floor test."

2: 39 IST, May 11th 2023

Addressing the media over the SC verdict, CM Shinde said, "Truth has prevailed today. In a democracy, the majority is important." Adding further he said that no one is above the law and called his government a legal government. "Many people were telling that our government is not legitimate. The SC has given them a befitting reply today. I welcome the Supreme Court's verdict," Shinde said.

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2: 24 IST, May 11th 2023

Attacking the Opposition, Fadnavis said, "Today, Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) conspiracy has been defeated. Now, no one should doubt that the Maharashtra government is completely legal."

2: 15 IST, May 11th 2023

After the SC verdict, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and DyCM Eknath Shinde addressed the media. "This is a victory for democracy and the democratic process. We are satisfied with the verdict given by the Supreme Court," Fadnavis said.

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1: 42 IST, May 11th 2023

Addressing the media after the SC verdict, Uddhav Thackeray who was accompanied by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, said, "We all should come together to save democracy. It is our duty to save democracy. The battle has just begun... I am not fighting for myself, I am fighting for people."

"They (now Shinde faction MLAs) betrayed my party and the legacy of my father. My resignation as the CM then may have been wrong legally, but I did it on moral grounds," he said.

1: 36 IST, May 11th 2023

Speaking to reporters over the SC verdict, DyCM Devendra Fadnavis said, “I express my complete satisfaction over the Supreme Court’s decision. Those who were speculating that this government will collapse today have been silenced (by the verdict).” The senior BJP leader added, “I will comment on the decision in detail along with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.”

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1: 22 IST, May 11th 2023

Congress has slammed Uddhav Thackeray after the SC verdict wherein the apex court said it could not order the restoration of the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government as Thackeray resigned from the post without facing a floor test. Former CM and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said that Uddhav should not have resigned from the CM post. 

1: 10 IST, May 11th 2023

Speaking to Republic post-SC order, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar said, "There will be more stability post this judgement... Now the speaker has to take the decision. Whatever we want to plead we can convey it to the Speaker." Slamming Uddhav Thackeray, he said, "The attitude of taking sympathy, if he hadn't resigned, the scenario could've been different... It's a lesson for him and his attitude... Uddhav Thackeray never listens to anybody and takes his own wrong decisions."

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12: 55 IST, May 11th 2023

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde & Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis to hold a news conference at 2 pm at Sahyadri, Mumbai, after the Supreme Court verdict.

12: 31 IST, May 11th 2023

"Status quo ante cannot be restored as Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. Hence the Governor was justified in administering the oath to Shinde with the support of the largest party BJP," the CJI said.

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12: 21 IST, May 11th 2023

The CJI said, "Exercise of discretion by the Governor was not in accordance with the Constitution."

12: 16 IST, May 11th 2023

Supreme Court held that the Governor had no objective material to doubt the confidence of the MVA government and call for a floor test. The resolution relied on by the Govt did not indicate that MLAs wanted to withdraw support, said the SC.

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12: 14 IST, May 11th 2023

"No faction or a group can argue that they constitute the original party in defence of the disqualification proceedings. The defence of split is no longer available under the tenth schedule... The defence must be found within the tenth schedule as it currently stands," the CJI said.

12: 09 IST, May 11th 2023

The CJI said, "The Speaker was aware of the emergence of two factions in the legislative party on 3 July 2022 when he appointed a new whip... The Speaker did not attempt to identify which of the two persons - Mr Prabhu or Mr Gogawale- was the whip authorised by the political party. The speaker must recognize only the whip appointed by the political party."

The top court said that the Speaker's decision to appoint Gogawale (backed by the Shinde group) as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal.

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12: 07 IST, May 11th 2023

"To hold that it is the legislative party which appoints the whip will mean severance of the umbilical cord with the political party. It means the group of MLAs can disconnect from the political party... Whip appointed political party is crucial for tenth schedule," the CJI said.

12: 04 IST, May 11th 2023

Supreme Court held that the order dated June 27 did not rely on Nabam Rebia decision and only extended time to give a reply to Dy Speaker's notices. The apex court referred the "Nabam Rebia" decision to a larger bench. "Having referred to the matter to a larger bench, Nabam Rebia did not strictly arise in this case and we decided the merits of this particular case," CJI Chandrachud said.

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11: 36 IST, May 11th 2023

Speaking ahead of teh SC verdict, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Minister Deepak Kesarkar said, "This will be a landmark decision as democracy will be strengthened due to this. I am an MLA and believe that if a 2/3rd majority can keep a whip aside, why should they merge with another party? First, there should be a decision on who has the majority in the party. Whether the change that was made in the party constitution was democratic or undemocratic and then there should be a decision... We have the best judiciary in the world... Every citizen must respect the SC and should accept the verdict."

 

11: 24 IST, May 11th 2023

Shinde faction leader Sanjay Shirsat speaks to Republic ahead of Supreme Court verdict on Shiv Sena row, saying "Disqualification does not apply to us." 


 

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11: 06 IST, May 11th 2023

Ahead of the SC verdict on the Shiv Sena row, NCP leader Ajit Pawar said, "As per my experience, the case will be referred to the speaker of the assembly as this comes under his jurisdiction. There is no threat to the government (Shinde-BJP govt) as they have enough numbers."

10: 45 IST, May 11th 2023

Watch the SC verdict on the Shiv Sena row LIVE on Republic:

 

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10: 22 IST, May 11th 2023

The court will pronounce its judgment on the disqualification plea of 16 MLAs of the Shinde faction, names of those 16 MLAs' are as follows:

1. Eknath Shinde 
2. Abdul Sattar
3. Sandipan Bhumare
4. Bharat Gogawale
5. Sanjay Shirsat
6. Tanaji Sawant
7. Orakash Surve
8. Balaji Kinkar
9. Balaji Kalyankar
10. Anil Babar
11. Sanjay Raimulkar
12. Ramesh Bornare
13. Chimanrao Patil
14. Mahesh Shinde 
15. Lata Sonawane 
16. Yamini Jadhav

10: 17 IST, May 11th 2023

From Eknath Shinde's rebellion to camping in hotels till Uddhav Thackeray tendered his resignation, let's dig into the past to know how the Maharashtra political turmoil commenced.

June 20, 2022: It started when BJP won five out of 10 seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections. The victory of the BJP came as a shock to the ruling Shiv Sena and that eventually led to factions inside the MVA government. Days later, senior Shiv Sena leader and rebel MLA Eknath Shinde disappeared with 11 other MLAs and flew to Surat in the BJP-governed state of Gujarat. The same day a meeting was called in by Uddhav where around 10-12 more MLAs were missing and unbreachable. Soon Shiv Sena housed the rest of the MLAs in different hotels in Mumbai in order to not lose them. Shinde informed Uddhav of having the support of more than 40 rebel MLAs and urged him to break the alliance with the NCP and Congress.

June 23, 2022: Eknath Shinde was declared leader of the Shiv Sena legislature party by the rebel camp. Shinde then with 40 Sena MLAs, headed to the BJP-ruled states of Gujarat, Assam, and even Goa, before claiming the support of the saffron party to form the government in Maharashtra. Thackeray, on the other hand, was reduced to having the support of a mere 15 MLAs.

The Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly - Narahari Zirwal - served a disqualification notice to 16 rebel legislators after Shiv Sena filed a petition. On the same day, Uddhav moved out of his official residence 'Varsha' in south Mumbai, and shifted to Matoshree, the Thackeray family's private bungalow in suburban Bandra.

June 26, 2022: After the rebel leader Eknath Shinde and his MLAs were served a disqualification notice by the deputy speaker Shinde, he moved to the Supreme Court and challenged the rejection of the no-confidence vote against the deputy speaker. Amid the growing internal feud, Uddhav sacked Shinde from the post of 'Shiv Sena leader'.

June, 30 2022: After getting support from BJP, it was speculated that Shinde and rebel MLAs will extend support to the saffron party. To everyone's surprise, Shinde was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state whereas BJP's Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Deputy CM. This came after Thackeray quit the post following the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s direction to the MVA government to take a floor test in the Assembly. 

July 3-4, 2022: A special two-day session of the Maharashtra assembly was called where legislator Rahul Narvekar of BJP was elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The new Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde won the crucial floor test in the state Assembly with 164 votes polled in favour of him, and 99 against.

October 8, 2022: Ahead of the November 3 Andheri (East) Assembly byelection, the Election Commission issued a temporary order freezing the Shiv Sena's "bow and arrow" election symbol. The Thackeray group was given the burning torch (mashal) and the name "Shiv Sena — Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray" by the EC. Shinde's group was allotted the name "Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena" with a symbol of two swords and a shield.

February 17, 2023: The Election Commission of India (ECI)  ordered that the party name 'Shiv Sena' and the party symbol 'Bow and Arrow' will be retained by the Eknath Shinde faction. However, team Thackeray asserted that the EC’s order will be challenged in the Supreme Court. 

February 20, 2023: The Legislative Office of the Shiv Sena party at Vidhan Bhavan was handed over to CM Eknath Shinde's faction on Monday. The office was reported to be sealed after the beginning of the conflict in the Shiv Sena. 

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10: 06 IST, May 11th 2023

Speaking to reporters ahead of the SC verdict, Sanjay Raut said, "I am a leader of Maha Vikas Aghadi and an MP of Shiv Sena (UBT) and I think the government is in danger... If 16 MLAs are disqualified, then the rest of the mice will also be disqualified and the government will collapse. CM Shinde is also on the list of those 16 MLAs. So if CM is disqualified, the government will fall."

 

9: 54 IST, May 11th 2023

Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, on Wednesday, said that he is confident about the Supreme Court delivering the verdict of the Shiv Sena row in CM Eknath Shinde's favour. "We are hopeful because our case is strong... my expectation is that there will be an appropriate verdict," he said. On the opposition leaders demanding the resignation of CM Shinde, Fadnavis said, "I am sorry to use the word but it is an arena of idiots."

"Why would Eknath Shinde submit his resignation? What mistakes has he made?" he questioned. "I am telling you that Eknath Shinde will remain the chief minister and we will contest the next elections under his leadership." (Read full story)

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9: 50 IST, May 11th 2023

In 2019, then unified Shiv Sena formed an alliance with Congress and the NCP, two parties that it had previously opposed vehemently. The alliance, known as the MVA, was successful in forming a government in the state, with Thackeray as the CM.

However, the power-sharing arrangement between the three parties could not be smooth sailing. Also, there have been disagreements between the Shiv Sena and its allies over several issues. At the same time, there was displeasure among the Shiv Sena MLAs over Uddhav's handling of the party. The cocktail of all these developments resulted in a massive rebellion led by Eknath Shinde in June last year, following which the MVA govt collapsed. (Read full story)

9: 45 IST, May 11th 2023

In view of the ongoing rift that started in June 2022, the Election Commission in February this year termed the Eknath Shinde -led faction as the ‘real Shiv Sena’ by allotting it the election symbol of the party-- "Bow and Arrow", almost eight months after the rebellion occurred. Ordering that the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena, which went incommunicado in June 2022, will get the official name of Shiv Sena and the symbol, the EC in its final order stated that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party is undemocratic. (Read full story)

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9: 30 IST, May 11th 2023

Speaking to reporters ahead of Supreme Court's verdict, Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant said, "All the documents have been placed before the court. We have full faith in the court. We have nothing to fear. The court will decide and pronounce its fair verdict."



 

9: 24 IST, May 11th 2023

A constitution bench of the Supreme Court is likely to deliver its verdict on the Shiv Sena case on Thursday, May 11. The bench is going to rule on a batch of petitions filed by the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions of the Shiv Sena, including one of the petitions filed by Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray seeking to disqualify 16 MLAs from Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. 

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9: 24 IST, May 11th 2023

The Maharashtra political crisis of 2022 saw the collapse of the Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state and the formation of a new government under Shinde. The crisis did not just stop with the formation of a new government; it escalated further with the question -- Who does 'Shiv Sena' belong to—Shinde or Thackeray? The fight between the two factions of Shiv Sena continued for months on the ownership of the Balasaheb Thackeray-founded party. But in February this year, Shinde consolidated his power over Shiv Sena after the Election Commission of India acknowledged the latter's faction as the "real" Shiv Sena. (Read full story)

Published May 11th, 2023 at 09:24 IST

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