Digital Desk: Uddhav Thackeray, the leader of the Shiv Sena, resigned as chief minister of Maharashtra late on Wednesday night, less than an hour after the Supreme Court approved a floor test that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government would have lost. I still respect your feelings, Thackeray said in an emotional appeal to the rebel MLAs who sided with Eknath Shinde to topple his 2.5-year-old government during his resignation address, which was streamed live on Facebook.
"With whom are you upset? Me?
The other two MVA members: Congress or Nationalist Congress Party? You should
have come to me at Matoshree instead of going to Surat and speaking up
"Thackeray chastised the insurgents.
Thackeray also complimented NCP
leader Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, both of whom have been
unwavering in their support during this crisis, in his succinct but dignified
statement.
Aaditya Thackeray was one of the
four Sena ministers present at the Wednesday cabinet meeting, which he used as
an opportunity to poke fun at the rebels.
"To display numbers in a
democracy, heads are counted. That doesn't interest me. They will claim
tomorrow that they have deposed Shiv Sena leader Balasaheb Thackeray's
son."
The Supreme Court earlier cleared
the way for the floor test set for Thursday morning at a little after 9
o'clock.
After a flurry of disputes between
Uddhav Thackeray, governor Koshyari, and the rebels led by Shinde, the test was
cleared.
Since Shinde left Maharashtra for
Surat in BJP-ruled Gujarat and later moved to Guwahati in BJP-ruled Assam with
a gradually expanding following, the Maharashtra administration has been mired
in crisis for the past week.
The rebels left Assam this evening
on a chartered SpiceJet flight for Goa, where they were reserved rooms at
another luxury hotel. They were scheduled to get there immediately for a floor
test that will no longer take place.
50 MPs, including around 40 from the
Sena, are said to support Shinde, which would have been more than enough to
topple the MVA administration and likely contributed to Uddhav Thackeray's
resignation.
Uddhav Thackeray has appealed to the rebels multiple times over the past week in tones ranging from impassioned to aggressive, imploring them to stand down and return to Mumbai.
In addition, he declared that he would resign as chief minister and leave the MVA if the dissident lawmakers saw him in person, which was a demand made by Shinde, who referred to the coalition as "unholy."
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