MUMBAI: The ongoing power struggle in Maharashtra went up a notch on Sunday with the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs moving the Supreme Court against a disqualification notice issued to 16 of them, including Eknath Shinde, by the deputy speaker.
A vacation bench of justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala will hear the writ petitions on Monday. The deputy speaker had given the rebels time till 5.30 pm on Monday to submit their response in writing.
In all, two writ petitions have been filed by the rebels in the SC. Shiv Sena boss and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will be represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi in the SC.
There was action in the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan as well, with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari getting discharged from hospital after recovering from Covid. Shortly thereafter, he ordered security cover for all rebels and their families. Parallelly, the Centre granted Y-plus CRPF security to 15 rebel Sena MLAs and their families following a recommendation by central security agencies to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
As for the Sena, it kept up its tough talk amid further desertion. Higher education minister Uday Samant became the eighth minister to defect to the dissident camp. He did so after attending the party’s national executive meeting addressed by Uddhav on Saturday. “We will never forget these traitors,” Uddhav’s son Aditya warned.
The eight rebel Sena ministers are Eknath Shinde, Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Sandeepan Bhumare, Shambhuraje Desai, Abdul Sattar, Uday Samant and Bacchu Kadu. Another minister Bachu Kadu of Prahar Janshakti Party and an Independent minister from Sena quota, Rajendra Yedravkar, are with Shinde.
Aditya is the lone Sena MLA minister left in the ruling Aghadi. He said about 15-16 MLAs in the rebel camp were in contact with the parent party. “If they return, they would get a warm welcome,” he added.