Uddhav faction seeks president's rule in Maha

The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray group) has called for President's rule to be imposed in Maharashtra claiming that the Eknath Shinde government with just one minister, besides Shinde running the government, is unconstitutional.

Rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister on June 30 along with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as deputy chief minister and there's been no cabinet expansion in the government for 17 days now. The Shinde government has indicated that it would have a cabinet expansion after the July 18 Presidential polls. Sources said that the cabinet expansion may take place on June 19.

The gap of 17 days has irked the Shiv Sena, with Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson of the Sena (Uddhav group) asking Governor BS Koshyari to intervene seeking the imposition of President's rule in the state. He claimed that Article 164 (1-A) of the Constitution states that the number of ministers, including the chief minister, shall not be less than 12 and that a cabinet consisting of just two ministers has been taking decisions that are not 'constitutionally valid'.Raut, while speaking to media persons and in a series of tweets, has said that two cabinet members were taking 'arbitrary decisions' for Maharashtra which has a population of 12 crore.


The BJP hit back with chief whip and party leader Ashish Shelar questioning whether Raut is suffering from a bout of 'amnesia'. "When the Maha Vikas Aghadi came to power, how many ministers were there in Maharashtra for 32 days after Uddhav Thackeray took oath as CM. Was that government also illegal?"