Sanjay Raut demands imposition of President's rule in Maharashtra till SC decides plea on disqualification of rebels

Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has demanded the imposition of President's rule in Maharashtra till the constitution bench of the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the plea seeking disqualification of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs.

Raut also took a dig at the newly-formed Eknath Shinde government over the delay in the formation of the new cabinet.

"Barbados has a population of 2.5 lakh and yet has a cabinet of 27. Maharashtra's 12-crore population has a cabinet of 2 members that are taking arbitrary decisions. Where is the regard for the constitution ?" he tweeted.

Raut demanded that till the constitution bench of the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the disqualification of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, President's rule should be imposed in the state.

"Article 164 (1-A) of the Constitution says that the number of ministers including CM of the state shall not be less than 12. For the last 2 weeks, the cabinet consisting of just 2 ministers is taking decisions that are not Constitutionally valid. Honourable governor sir, what's going on?" he questioned.

After his rebellion led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Shinde took oath as the chief minister on June 30 along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy CM.

As per the latest speculation, the formation of the new council of ministers might take place days after the Presidential polls, scheduled on July 18.

A senior BJP leader has said the cabinet may be expanded on July 20 or 21.

Raut, who is in Delhi, on Sunday slammed the Shinde-led government for not expanding the Cabinet.

"It (expansion of cabinet) has not happened because there is a Constitutional problem. The 40 rebel MLAs of Shiv Sena (in the Shinde camp) face the threat of disqualification and the matter is being heard in the Supreme Court. If they take oath as ministers, they will be disqualified," he said.

The Supreme Court last Monday asked the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to not take any decision on disqualifying Shiv Sena MLAs.

Maharashtra Legislature Secretary Rajendra Bhagwat had issued show cause notices to 53 Shiv Sena MLAs. Forty of the notices have been sent to the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the other 13 belong to the Uddhav Thackeray group.

Both the groups have sought the disqualification of legislators from the rival faction.

Published on: Sunday, July 17, 2022, 05:22 PM IST