Peeved over the delay in Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's nomination to Maharashtra Legislative Council, the Shiv Sena on Sunday targetted Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Raj Bhavan should not become a centre of political conspiracy, said senior Shiv Sena leader and spokesperson Sanjay Raut, who is a close aide of Thackeray.
Without naming Koshyari, Raut in two tweets - one in English and another in Marathi- made the ruling party's displeasure known.
The Sena Rajya Sabha MP said: "...somehow reminded of the ‘shameless’ governor, the late (Thakur) Ram Lal, who served in the Raj Bhavan in Andhra Pradesh in the early 1980s.....Remember! History doesn’t spare those who behave unconstitutionally. Samajhne walon ko ishaar kaafi hai!” said Raut, the executive editor of Saamana, the party mouthpiece.
With all elections postponed in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government had on April 9, passed a resolution for Koshyari to nominate Thackeray as a member Council. The meeting of state Cabinet was presided over by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The Governor's office, however, so far, has not taken any decision.
Thackeray was sworn in the Maharashtra chief minister on November 28, 2018.
Uddhav, who is the unanimous leader of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi government, is not a legislator, and needs to get elected by May 28, 2020, a period of six months. From the beginning, 59-year-old Thackeray had two options - either be a member of Assembly or Council.
Thackeray had preferred the route to Upper House. But, now, there is a peculiar situation.
Because of COVID-19 outbreak and need for social distancing, the Election Commission of India has deferred elections to nine seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Nine members of the Council, for which the electoral college is Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, are retiring on April 24, 2020.
Two Council seats from the Governor's quota are vacant - as Ramrao Wadkute and Rahul Narvekar had resigned.
There were speculations that Thackeray may have to resign ahead of May 28 and sworn in again as the chief minister. But, it is a tricky process, as in the event of the resignation of the head of government, the council-of-ministers is dissolved automatically. This has to be a smooth 24-hour operation, as BJP will leave no stones unturned to topple the government.
As per Article 164 (4) of the Constitution, a minister, who is not a member of either Houses, will cease to be a minister, on expiry of six months. However, there are various interpretation and judgements in the article.
The MVA does not want to take any chances of legal wrangles and Constitutional crisis and decided to get Thackeray elected from governor's quota.