Another test likely? Uddhav Thackeray hints at pulling the plug on BJP government

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has indicated that his party was likely to pull out of the Devendra Fadnavis government, although he did not give a firm date for it. The BJP does not have an absolute majority in the Maharashtra legislature but had won the trust vote in 2014 even without the Sena’s support after the NCP abstained from voting.

According to a BJP insider, the party is just 10 short of majority as it enjoys the support of small parties and independents who number 12. The insider claimed that there were many in the Sena and even in the Congress willing to join the party. “There are a lot of differences of opinion, whether you call it meeting of minds or whatever.

There is a need to put a stop to such things. There is no use in staying in such an alliance,” Uddhav Thackeray said in Mumbai on Tuesday. He said the Sena had always accepted the BJP as its own but it was difficult to continue when the other did not ‘reciprocate.’

Claiming that the Fadnavis government was currently serving a ‘notice period,’ Thackeray hinted that he could pull the plug anytime. However when asked as to when he would do that, the Sena president said, “I cannot say how long the notice period is. However the notice period is only for a specific duration.”

He said the CM had the intelligence department with him and would know whether there was a threat to the government. The Sena president said his party was not hungry for power. A few minutes after his news conference, along with Patidar community leader Hardik Patel, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reacted to his statement by saying that his government was not under threat.

“My government is under no threat, it will continue its entire five-year term,” Fadnavis said while releasing the party’s manifesto for the Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls on Tuesday. He refused to elaborate on the Sena threat. To a question on his government being on notice, he said, “we don’t even notice such things.”