Maharashtra crisis: Ruling coalition MVA gears up for floor test

Mumbai, Jun 24: As the political situation heats up in Maharashtra, the ruling coalition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is gearing up for a floor test even as more rebel MLAs joined rebel state minister Eknath Shinde, camp camped in Assam's Guwahati.

All 37 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs who are camping in Guwahati on Thursday sent a letter to Maharashtra Assembly's Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, stating that Eknath Shinde will remain their group leader in legislature.

Shinde has asserted that he heads the real Shiv Sena and is set to apply for a staking claim for the party symbol. This will be opposed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

The 2/3rd split in a political party, to avoid disqualification of MLAs, should happen in the legislature party and not the original party since membership there runs into lakhs, and difficult to ascertain a vertical split.

The Shiv Sena, which heads the MVA, has 55 MLAs, followed by allies NCP (53) and the Congress (44) in the 288-assembly where the current simple majority mark is 144.

The BJP has 106 MLAs of its own and is backed by one lawmaker each from the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, the Swabhimani Paksh, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, the Jan Surajya Party and six independents, taking its tally with allies to 116.

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday removed Shinde as the party's group leader in the Assembly and appointed Choudhary in his place hours after Shinde went incommunicado and travelled to Surat with a group of party MLAs loyal to him.

Shinde is currently camping in Guwahati city of Assam with nearly 50 rebel Sena MLAs, including independents.