A phone call from Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have prompted the Centre to adopt a politically prudent course in the matter of the former’s continuation in office as he remained unelected as an MLA or MLC with a six-month deadline breathing down his neck.
A political crisis in the thick of a health-driven crisis in the state is hardly a time for the top BJP leadership to think of getting back at Thackeray for dumping the party soon after the Assembly polls last November and joining hands with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress to become Maharashtra’s chief minister.
Thackeray was faced with the expiry of a six-month-deadline on May 28, before which he must become a member of the state legislature to stay on as chief minister. He had taken oath as CM on November 28, 2019.Thackeray’s efforts to become an MLC under the “nominated category” were stymied by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who insisted on sticking to the convention involved in nominating people of eminence to the Upper House.
Alarm bells began to ring after he refused to go by the “recommendation” of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government (the coalition of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress) twice in this regard—once on April 9 and on April 28—urging him to clear Thackeray’s nomination from the Governor’s quota. In the meantime, the Bombay High Court also refused to interfere, observing that the Governor is expected to consider the legal validity of the recommendation.
Before Covid-19 struck Maharashtra, Thackeray had counted on an early regular election to the state Legislative Council to fill nine vacancies. However, the Election Commission decided to postpone these elections indefinitely. It was then that Thackeray realised that the Governor can, under Article 171 of the Constitution, nominate members having “special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service”.
Thackeray thought that he was a well-known wildlife photographer with several exhibitions to his credit and hence stood qualified to be considered under this category. Besides, there were two vacancies in the Governor’s quota due to resignations by two NCP legislators who had joined the BJP before the Assembly polls.
Governor Koshyari’s stand was that the term of these two seats were to end in June. He relied on the observation of the Election Commission previously that there was no need for filling up vacancies if their tenure was less than six months. He had rejected two names of NCP leaders recommended by the state government against these vacancies earlier this year on similar grounds.
Can a sitting CM be made a nominated member just to obviate the demand of the six-month deadline to become an MLA or MLC? Thackeray sought to rely on a 1961 Supreme Court ruling, upholding the appointment of Chandrabhan Gupta as Uttar Pradesh CM and his nomination by the Governor to the Legislative Council. In Gupta’s case, the top court accepted the argument that he had taken active part in politics for several years, which amounted to having experience of social service. So he was qualified to be nominated to the Legislative Council. Koshyari remained unconvinced that he would be acting rightly if he nominated Thackeray for a seat with a one-month validity to enable him to remain as CM till a regular election.
However, beyond the realpolitik, Modi saw Maharashtra as one of the worst-affected states in India due to the coronavirus scourge. After Thackeray sought Modi’s intervention, the Centre is understood to have decided against any confrontation between the Governor and the Maha Vikas Aghadi. But the Centre agreed with the stand taken by the Governor that nominating Thackeray as CM to the Upper House to enable him to save his post was not a constitutionally appropriate course.
Instead, the Governor could ask the Election Commission to hasten the holding of the regular elections to fill the nine MLC vacancies. Accordingly, Governor Koshyari was “counselled” specifically to request the poll panel to hold the elections to end the uncertainty in the state because “Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray is not a member of either house of the state Legislature, (and) he needs to get elected to the Council before May 27.”
The Election Commission responded with a go-ahead, making it clear that the elections should be completed on May 21, six days before the May 27 deadline for Thackeray to enter the Legislative Council and retain the chief ministership.
This is certainly a big relief for Thackeray. But once he is elected, he has to remain on guard. There is growing criticism that his government has not handled the coronavirus crisis well. There is deep disquiet in the Shiv Sena too. Maharashtra BJP leaders are also unlikely to give up an opportunity to reverse the events of last year when Devendra Fadnavis’s efforts to retain power with the help of NCP leader Ajit Pawar did not fructify.
Shekhar Iyer
The writer is a senior journalist