Uddhav Thackeray resigns as Maharashtra CM, says he will rebuild Sena

Uddhav Thackeray set his crown down before it could be handed over to the other side after the expected floor test on Thursday Announcing his resignation as the state chief minister Thackeray said he was going out but not fading away He said he would give the Shiv Sena a new shineThackerays final message as the chief minister came immediately after the Supreme Court refused to stay the trust vote which the governor had asked to be held on Thursday The Sena challenged the instruction but in vainIn his last speech as the CM Thackeray resigned as a member of the upper House Henceforth he would focus on infusing fresh blood into the Sena and rebuild it to meet challenges he saidUddhav Thackeray at Mantralaya on Wednesday PicSayyed Sameer AbediIn an apparent jibe at the governor he said ldquoI thank the governor for respecting democracy by asking to hold a floor test immediately after the Opposition petitioned him Democracy must be followed I wish the governor would clear the recommendations our government had made for the nomination of 12 MLCsrdquoHe thanked the Congress and the NCP and said the Congress told him that it would pull out and support his government from outside if the rebel MLAs came back ldquoBut those we never expected to betray us just did that Those who were expected to betray the Congress and the NCP stayed with us till the endrdquo he said thanking the ally high commanders Sharad Pawar and Sonia GandhiThackeray appealed to the party workers to not block the rebel MLAs who are expected to land in the city amid high security provided by the CRPF ldquoCRPF is here They may call the military as well and expose the borders to Chinardquo he taunted the BJP ldquoLet them celebrate the birth of democracy Donrsquot be part of the bloodbath in the streetsrdquoThe Sena president said he was not interested in counting heads on the floor of the House ldquoHeads are not to be counted but used I will quit even if one party person goes against me I donrsquot want to play that game and hang my head in shamerdquoAlso Read Security beefed up at Goa airport and hotel ahead of arrival of rebel Shiv Sena MLAsNot greedy for powerHe said the party workers should allow the betrayers to earn punya for pulling Balasaheb Thackerayrsquos son down ldquoThey will invoke Balasahebrsquos name Let them enjoy and be happy My family and I are not greedy for power We will keep fighting for Marathi manoos and HindusrdquoAssam Goa darshan done rebels to returnAfter staying away from home for nine days the rebel Shiv Sena who had moved to Guwahati from Surat returned to Goa on Wednesday They were to return to Mumbai in case of a floor test on Thursday though there is now no need for the floor test after the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government A breakaway group led by Thanersquos Sena strongman Eknath Shinde first moved to Surat setting off a dramatic sequence of events Shinde and his supporters were then taken to Guwahati while more ministers from Uddhavrsquos side ditched him to head for Assam The drama unfolded after the MVA suffered a setback in Maharashtra Legislative Council polls with the opposition BJP winning all the five seats it contested The Sena and the NCP bagged two seats each and the Congress got one Its other candidate Chandrakant Handore lostSC refuses to stay floor testThe Supreme Court Wednesday refused to stay Maharashtra Governorrsquos direction to the Uddhav Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government to take a floor test in the Assembly on ThursdayA vacation bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice J B Pardiwala said Thursdayrsquos proceeding in the Assembly will be subject to the final outcome of Shiv Senarsquos plea against Governorrsquos decisionThe top court also issued notice to the Secretary of Legislative Assembly amp others on plea against the Governorrsquos direction for the floor testldquoWe have drafted this short order We are not staying the floor test as convened by the Governor We are issuing notice in the writ petition You can file a counter in five days We will hear on merits along with other cases on July 11 Tomorrowrsquos proceeding will depend on the final outcome of this petitionrdquo the bench saidDevendra Fadnavis is backI quickly put behind everything that goes against me I move on with a new energyrdquo opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis told this reporter in an informal chat barely a fortnight ago That afternoon he had just pulled the rug from under the MVArsquos feet by keeping an additional candidate in the legislative council polls which his party won hands down and triggered the revolt in the Shiv Sena campFadnavis did regret his early morning swearingin with Ajit Pawar in the winter of 2019 but carried the mission of outwitting Uddhav Thackeray uninterrupted ever since He rarely diverted from the line that said the MVA would disintegrate on its own But he knew the decay and worked on it in the BJPrsquos favour It took time almost two and a half years to displace Thackeray from the CMrsquos office and weaken his position as Shiv Sena presidentDisenchantment grew in the Sena ranks basically the MLAs who shared their grievance with Fadnavis who for them was still a better option as an ally despite the fact that the relations between the BJP and Sena had gone from bad to worse over the past two years Fadnavis tapped the resentment which fuelled by the BJPrsquos assurance of support dented the Senarsquos fort If the Rajya Sabha election was the first strong message the second a bigger one came in the Legislative Council pollsThe final act began as the Council results dripped out Mutiny took off under the vast wings of the BJP Guided by his high command Fadnavis played the perfect partner in causing Thackerayrsquos fall Fadnavis and his party high commandrsquos strategy worked After the 2019 failure it is resurrection for the exCM said one of his close associates