Editor's Pick: Maharashtra’s political tussle reaches Supreme Court

The political tussle in Maharashtra reached the Supreme Court on Sunday with 15 rebel MLAs led by senior leader Eknath Shinde challenging the disqualification notice issued by the Maharashtra Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal. On Saturday, the Deputy Speaker had issued disqualification notices to 16 MLAs (including Mr. Shinde), seeking a reply a reply within 48 hours. Additionally, it passed six resolutions giving absolute right to the incumbent party President Uddhav Thackeray to initiate actions against the rebels and get the intra-party revolt under control. The rebel faction had unsuccessfully tried to move a no-confidence motion against Mr. Zirwal, even though the assembly was not in session, which was rejected as the notice was from an unknown email id. Other than challenging the disqualification notice, the rebels have challenged the appointment of Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhuri as Legislature Party leader. Counsel for Sena-led government Advocate Devadatt Kamat said there have been several examples where members were disqualified for anti-party activities outside the House. Separately on Sunday, the Uddhav Thackeray camp experienced another jolt with Maharashtra Technical and Higher Education Minister Uday Samant, a prominent leader from the Konkan region, opting to join the rebel camp. Presently, Mr Shinde enjoys the support of nine Sena ministers with Aaditya Thackeray being the only minister left in the Uddhav Thackeray camp – the other two loyalists Anil Parab and Subhash Desai are Legislative Council members. Mr. Aaditya said that the rebels “lacked courage”, adding that “true Shiv Sainiks” have not left the party and Uddhav Thackeray would continue being the state Chief minister for the next 25 years. “The BJP-ruled Centre, which ought to have given CRPF security to Kashmiri Pandits, are today giving security to the rebel MLAs. Their food bills run to ₹8 lakh to ₹9 lakh daily in a State [Assam] that is afflicted by floods. I feel bad that while flood-hit people are suffering, you [rebel MLAs] are enjoying there,” he said. The rebel group demand is that Shiv Sena ally with the BJP and not the Congress or Nationalist Congress Party. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. Click here The Hindu’s Editorials Keep up the pressure: On the conviction of a Mumbai attacks handler in Pakistan Regressive, inhumane: On the U.S. Supreme Court removing right to abortion The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Where is the G7 summit being hosted this year? The 2015 G7 summit was also hosted here. Paris, France Kigali, Rwanda Schloss Elmau, Germany Valletta, Malta To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 27 JUNE 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Maharashtra’s political tussle reaches Supreme Court The [political tussle in Maharashtra reached the Supreme Court]( on Sunday with 15 rebel MLAs led by senior leader Eknath Shinde challenging the disqualification notice issued by the Maharashtra Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal. On Saturday, the Deputy Speaker had issued [disqualification notices to 16 MLAs (including Mr. Shinde)]( seeking a reply a reply within 48 hours. Additionally, it passed six resolutions giving absolute right to the incumbent party President Uddhav Thackeray to initiate actions against the rebels and get the intra-party revolt under control. The rebel faction had unsuccessfully tried to move a no-confidence motion against Mr. Zirwal, even though the assembly was not in session, which was rejected as the notice was from an unknown email id. Other than challenging the disqualification notice, the rebels have challenged the appointment of Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhuri as Legislature Party leader. Counsel for Sena-led government Advocate Devadatt Kamat said there have been several examples where members were disqualified for anti-party activities outside the House. Separately on Sunday, the [Uddhav Thackeray camp experienced another jolt]( with Maharashtra Technical and Higher Education Minister Uday Samant, a prominent leader from the Konkan region, opting to join the rebel camp. Presently, Mr Shinde enjoys the support of nine Sena ministers with Aaditya Thackeray being the only minister left in the Uddhav Thackeray camp – the other two loyalists Anil Parab and Subhash Desai are Legislative Council members. Mr. Aaditya said that the rebels “lacked courage”, adding that “true Shiv Sainiks” have not left the party and Uddhav Thackeray would continue being the state Chief minister for the next 25 years. “The BJP-ruled Centre, which ought to have given CRPF security to Kashmiri Pandits, are today giving security to the rebel MLAs. Their food bills run to ₹8 lakh to ₹9 lakh daily in a State [Assam] that is afflicted by floods. I feel bad that while flood-hit people are suffering, you [rebel MLAs] are enjoying there,” he said. The rebel group demand is that Shiv Sena ally with the BJP and not the Congress or Nationalist Congress Party. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more.  [Click here]( The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][Keep up the pressure: On the conviction of a Mumbai attacks handler in Pakistan]( [Arrow][Regressive, inhumane: On the U.S. Supreme Court removing right to abortion]( The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Where is the G7 summit being hosted this year? 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