AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday commented on the unfolding crisis in Maharashtra, calling those involved 'monkeys' and describing the events as 'a dance of monkeys... jumping from one branch to another'.
He said he would not involve himself or his party in what is an internal matter of the Shiv Sena and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
"Let Maha Vikas Aghadi deliberate over this matter. We are keeping an eye on the unfolding drama... It looks like a dance of monkeys. They are acting like monkeys jumping from one branch to another," Owaisi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The Maharashtra crisis erupted Wednesday after rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde decamped with MLAs from his party and independent lawmakers to BJP-ruled Gujarat.
Over the past four days Shinde's numbers have grown to 47 - 38 Sena MLAs, nine independent - which is enough to claim control of his party; earlier today the Shinde camp said their group would be called 'Shiv Sena (Balasaheb)' - a reference to the late party patriarch Balasaheb Thackeray, who is chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's father.
Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena today passed a resolution to take legal action against them and said that those who left the party should not seek votes in the name of the party founder.
As many as six resolutions were passed during Shiv Sena's national executive committee meeting on Saturday as the political stalemate did not seem to end leading to uncertainty over the future of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
"People will come to know what actions will be taken against those who have left the party by the evening. The work that CM Uddhav Thackeray has done is commendable. We will all fight the elections under his leadership," he added.
Born on 23 January 1926, Balasaheb left his job as a cartoonist in a daily newspaper in 1960 and founded Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966, to advocate for the interest of Marathis or the people of Maharashtra. He passed away on November 17, 2012, after suffering a cardiac arrest at the age of 86.
Eknath Shinde claims to have the support of 38 MLAs of the 56 Shiv Sena legislators, which is more than two-thirds of the party's strength in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. It means that they can either leave and form another political party or merge with another without being disqualified from the state assembly.
