Shinde camp moves towards disqualification of 16 Uddhav MLAs post Speaker election victory

After the massive show of strength in the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Elections, the Eknath Shinde camp has moved towards disqualification of 16 Uddhav Thackeray Sena MLAs. The Shiv Sena (Shinde camp) Chief Whip Bharat Gogawale has informed newly-elected Speaker Rahul Narwekar that they are moving towards the disqualification of the 16 MLAs.

In a first big win for the Eknath Shinde camp, NDA candidate and BJP’s Rahul Narwekar was announced as the new Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday. Rahul Narwekar sailed past the majority mark with 164 votes, as opposed to 107 votes registered for MVA candidate and Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi. After his landslide victory, which helped prove the Shinde camp's decisive numbers, Narwekar was welcomed to the Chair of the Speaker with chants of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Sri Ram.'

All eyes are now on the floor test scheduled for tomorrow. The four-day-old Shiv Sena-BJP government will face the floor test on July 4 during the special two-day session of the Legislative Assembly. Notably, the Supreme Court has given go-ahead to the floor test. The Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena had approached the apex court challenging Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's order convening a floor test on Thursday

Eknath Shinde makes first address as Maharashtra CM

Addressing the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the first time as Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde congratulated BJP's Rahul Narwekar for being elected with the full majority as the state Assembly Speaker on Sunday. Speaking about his alliance with the saffron party, Shinde said that Shiv Sena and BJP are now back in power in Maharashtra and together they will take Balasaheb Thackeray's legacy of Hindutva forward. 

"In the last 10-15 days, whatever happened, everyone has witnessed. Today Shiv Sena-BJP is back in power in Maharashtra. We are taking the legacy of the Hindutva ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray," said CM Eknath Shinde.

"Some said, we are in touch with some MLAs, sometimes it's 5, then 10, 20, and 25. I asked him to name them and would have provided them with the special charter flight. I was not expecting anything, but BJP respected our democracy and supported it. Whatever the perception or anticipation, it turned out to be wrong," he added.

As many as 50 MLAs who support Shinde, including 39 rebel legislators of the Shiv Sena flew to Mumbai from Goa on Saturday evening by a chartered flight. Shinde, who had flown to Goa in the morning, accompanied them back.