Ball in BJP’s Court: With Uddhav Exit, BJP Core Committee to Meet Today to Prep Future Strategy

In what may be called the final nail in the MVA government’s coffin, Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday resigned as the chief minister moments after the Supreme Court asked him to prove his majority in the assembly.

Following Uddhav’s resignation, celebrations erupted in the BJP camp with party leaders distributing sweets and raising slogans at the legislative meeting in Taj Hotel, hailing Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, who was also Uddhav’s predecessor.

“We will tell you everything tomorrow (Thursday),” Fadnavis told reporters when asked about the party’s next move.

Fadnavis later tweeted about his meeting with the BJP as well as Independent MLAs.

Sources told CNN-News18 that BJP’s core committee will meet at 12 noon on Thursday to decide the future strategy, and it is expected that the BJP will stake claim to form the government on July 1. BJP general secretary C T Ravi, who is in charge of his party’s affairs in Maharashtra, and state BJP chief Chandrakanth Patil will also meet Fadnavis over tea tomorrow.

With support from Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs, who have flown to Goa from Guwahati on Wednesday, the BJP is set to form the next government. It also has the support of several independents who had earlier backed the MVA government of Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress.

Chandrakant Patil told reporters that the rebel MLAs, who are scheduled to land in Mumbai on Thursday, should arrive only on the day of oath-taking. “Those (rebel Shiv Sena MLAs) who were reaching Mumbai tomorrow, I urge them not to come tomorrow, they should come on the day of oath-taking,” he said.

Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray’s resignation drew strong reactions from the BJP, whose leaders invoked ‘karma’ and the legacy of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray while taking potshots at Uddhav.

“Karma does not spare anyone,” CT Ravi said.

“Balasaheb Thackeray was a man who could control governments, despite not being in power. On the other hand, his son couldn’t even control his party, despite being in power. What a fall from grace,” BJP’s IT department in-charge Amit Malviya tweeted.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, however, heaped praises on Uddhav Thackeray saying we lost a “sensitive, decent” chief minister. Taking to Twitter, Raut wrote, “Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray resigned very politely. We have lost a sensitive, decent chief minister. History has witnessed that cheating doesn’t end well. Thackeray wins. This is the beginning of a grand victory for Shiv Sena,” read a loose translation of his tweet in Hindi.

(With PTI inputs)

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