With the rumour about Maha Vikas Aghadi’s move to replace Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister with a new leader in view of his surgery, the Chief Minister’s Office swung in to scoff all speculations.
In a statement, CMO said, ‘’ The Hon CM has undergone successful spine surgery and is undergoing physiotherapy at the HN Reliance Hospital. He is presently very stable and will be discharged in due course of time.’’
Few hours later, the government also announced that the state cabinet will meet on Thursday at 3.30 pm. Sources in the government hinted that CM may virtually chair the meeting from the hospital. This is also to send a signal he is in command and in the know of day to day functioning of the government.
As the rumour spread like a wildfire, at least three senior ministers from the Maha Vikas Aghadi government spoke and claimed that it was the opposition’s move. ‘’There is no move to change the CM even for say three months or NCP is making any efforts to stake its claim on the CM’s post. CM is in the firm saddle and heading the MVA government which is strong and stable. It was finally decided that the CMO should come out with the statement to scoff the rumours,’’ said a senior MVA minister.
Another minister alleged that the opposition was frustrated as it had failed to carry out “Operation Lotus’’ in Maharashtra. The opposition could not do much despite issuing new deadlines for the collapse of the MVA government.
