The Eknath Shinde group Chief Whip Bharat Gogawale has served disqualification notices to all the Shiv Sena MLAs who defied his whip for the floor test of the new government on Monday.
However, Gogawale also said that the notice has not been issued to Worli MLA and ex-Minister Aaditya Thackeray the son of former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as a sign of arespect for Balasaheb Thackeray’.
Earlier, prior to the Speaker’s election and the House trust vote, Chief Minister Shinde and his group had cautioned the Shiv Sena MLAs that they could face action for defying Gogawale’s whip as both sides are attempting to exercise their authority over the 56-year-old party.
Shinde made it clear that he was the Shiv Sena Legislative Party leader and Gogawale was the party’s Chief Whip, and those who violated their Whip would face action.
On Sunday and Monday, the Shiv Sena Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu and Shinde Group’s Gogawale had issued separate Whips to both sides to vote as per their directives or face disqualification.
However, the Shinde Group faction had defied Prabhu’s whip and the government cleared both the major tests July 3 Speaker election and July 4 vote of confidence smoothly on the expected lines.
The next round is likely to unfold after the Supreme Court hearing in the matter scheduled on July 11
Pointing to the hectic political activities of the last fortnight, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said he will need some time before he and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of BJP discuss the allocation of cabinet portfolios.
Earlier in the day, the Eknath Shinde-led government won the trust vote in the Assembly.
With 164 MLAs voting for the motion of confidence and 99 against it, the Shinde government appears firm in the saddle with the support of the BJP and others. Several NCP and congress MLAs allege they been not allowed to vote
“Let us breathe properly. It was quite hectic for us. Devendra Fadnavis and I will sit and discuss cabinet portfolios and their allocation. We will also get the allocation vetted by national leaders of the BJP”, Shinde told reporters after winning the trust vote.
We have gone through a lot in the last few days. Give us some time to meet our families. We will decide it (distribution of ministries), he added.
When asked whether Shiv Sena MPs are supporting the Shinde camp, he said, Whether they will vote for the NDA candidate in the Presidential polls or not, it cannot be said now. I will talk about it in the next two days
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