Supreme Court ruling success of election mandate, says Eknath Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde reacted to the Supreme Court ruling on his last year's rebellion which led to the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray government, saying the judgment is the success of the 2019 election mandate. In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, the NDA alliance, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena, won 161 seats. But following differences, the Shiv Sena made an alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, forming the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA).

Speaking to reporters after the Supreme Court verdict on his mutiny, Eknath Shinde said, "This is the victory of the vision of Babasaheb Thackeray, the thinking of the Shiv Sena and the feelings that the common people had for our government."

"It is the success of the mandate that the people had given in the elections. And according to Balasaheb Thackeray’s thinking, those who tried to harass have been given a perfect response with the order given by the Supreme Court today," the Maharashtra chief minister said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that it cannot disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government or the MLAs who revolted against Uddhav Thackeray. It said it cannot reinstate the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government as it was the latter's decision to resign from the post and not face the Floor Test.

The court also remarked that the then Governor BS Koshyari was wrong in concluding that the MVA government had lost the support of the majority of MLAs. The bench also said that the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale a whip of the Eknath Shinde group was wrong.

Reacting to the Supreme Court's "Governor erred" remarks, Eknath Shinde said he acted as per the situation at the time. "What if the Floor test had happened and their (MVA) govt had failed it?" asks Eknath Shinde.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis attacked Uddhav Thackeray over his "Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis should resign if he has any morality left" remark, saying Uddhav Thackeray forgot those morals when he aligned with NCP and Congress to form the MVA government.

"It doesn't suit Uddhav Thackeray to talk about morality. I want to ask him if had he forgotten his morals when he went with NCP and Congress for CM post.He had not resigned on moral grounds but due to fear after people who were with him left him," Fadnavis said.