Maharashtra political crisis: Congress deputes Kamal Nath as observer amid political developments

The decision came soon after reports that some Shiv Sena MLAs along with party leader Eknath Shinde moved to Surat posing threat to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi govt.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Congress party on Tuesday debuted its senior leader Kamal Nath as AICC in Maharashtra
• The decision came after reports that some Shiv Sena MLAs along with Eknath Shinde moved to Surat
• Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde, with 33 party MLAs and seven independent MLAs, arrived at Assam’s Guwahati

Maharashtra political crisis updates: In the wake of recent political developments in Maharashtra, the Congress party on Tuesday (June 21) deputed its senior leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath as All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer in the state.

“The Congress president has deputed Kamal Nath AICC observer in the wake of recent political developments in the state, with immediate effect,” Congress said in an official statement.

The decision came soon after reports that some Shiv Sena MLAs along with party leader Eknath Shinde moved to Surat posing threat to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Eknath Shinde arrived in Guwahati:

Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde, with 33 party MLAs and seven independent MLAs, who were staying at Le Meridien hotel in Surat arrived at Assam’s Guwahati on Wednesday (June 22) morning.

This comes after suspected cross-voting in Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged five seats, in a major blow to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance government. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena won two each while Congress was able to clinch one seat out of the total 10 seats in Legislative Council that went to the polls on Monday.After the MLC elections, Shinde along with some other Shiv Sena MLAs was staying at Le Meridien hotel in Surat.

A Shiv Sena delegation comprising Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s close aides Milind Narvekar and Ravindra Phatak also met Shinde and other party legislators in Surat.Alleging that efforts are being made to topple the MVA government, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday confirmed that some Shiv Sena MLAs and Eknath Shinde were currently “not reachable”. He said that Shiv Sena MLAs were in Surat and they were not being allowed to leave.

Amid the drama, Shinde took a veiled dig at Shiv Sena for joining hands with Congress and NCP to form the government in the state and tweeted, “We are Balasaheb’s staunch Shiv Sainiks … Balasaheb has taught us Hindutva. We have never and will never cheat for power regarding Balasaheb’s thoughts and Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Saheb’s teachings.”

Shinde has also dropped “Shiv Sena” from his Twitter bio.

News Sources – India Tv News