Hummingbird News Desk
MUMBAI, 22 JUNE: Amid revolt in Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray vacated his official residence ‘Varsha’ along with his family members on Wednesday hours after he expressed his readiness to step down if rebel MLAs returned to Mumbai and made such a demand.
The CM moved out of ‘Varsha’, his official residence, for Matoshri, the private bungalow of the Thackeray family, amid high drama as the political crisis that has rocked his government after Shinde’s revolt two days ago, showed no signs of ebbing.
Shiv Sena leaders like Neelam Gorhe and Chandrakant Khaire were present at ‘Varsha’ when Thackeray was leaving the official residence. Party workers raised slogans and showered petals on the CM as he left his official house along with his family members — wife Rashmi Thackeray, sons Aaditya, who is a Cabinet minister, and Tejas Thackeray at around 9.50 pm.
He reached outside Matoshri at around 10.30 pm. However, it took another 40 minutes for the CM to cover a short distance from outside Matoshri to his residence. Hundreds of Shiv Sainiks stationed themselves from Malabar Hill, where Varsha is located, to Matoshri in Bandra. Carrying placards and party flags, workers raised slogan of ‘Uddhav tum aage badho, hum tumhare saath hain’ as some of them fought back tears. Thackeray stepped out of his car at Worli, the Assembly constituency of his son and Tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray, and again near Matoshri and waived at Sena workers.
Prior to leaving Varsha, Thackeray also met MLAs and MPs. Earlier, bags containing his personal belongings were seen being loaded in cars.
The political crisis facing the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra deepened on Wednesday after rebel party MLAs claimed support of 46 MLAs. Congress and NCP are partners of Shiv Sena in the alliance government.
Earlier this evening, Thackeray addressed the people of the state via Facebook and said he was willing to give his resignation to party MLAs who can take it to Raj Bhavan.
Noting that a section of party MLAs was gunning for his ouster, he said instead of going to Surat, they could have conveyed their feelings to him. Thackeray said it is a matter of shame for him if “even a single MLA” was against him.
“If any MLA wants me to not continue as the CM, I am ready to take all my belongings from Varsha Bungalow (official residence of the CM) to Matoshri,” Thackeray said.
“I am ready to give my resignation to the MLAs, they should come here and take my resignation to Raj Bhavan. I am ready to leave the post of Shiv Sena party head also, not on the saying of others but my workers,” he added.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed confidence of Shiv Sena sailing through the crisis.
“Uddhav Thackeray is Maharashtra Chief Minister and he will remain the CM. If we get the chance, we will prove our majority on the floor of the House,” he said.
Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde, who is leading the revolt, said that it was essential for the party for its survival to get out of the “unnatural alliance” and asserted that only the constituent parties benefitted during the tenure of the coalition government in the state.
“In the last two and a half years, the government benefited only the constituent parties. It’s essential to get out of the unnatural alliance for the survival of the party. Decisions need to be taken now in the interest of Maharashtra,” Shinde said in tweets.
Tags: #MaharashtraCrisis #UddhavThackeray #EknathShinde #Varsha #Matoshri
