New Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde wins trust vote

EKNATH Shinde, the current chief minister of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, on Monday (4) overcame a major hurdle by proving his government’s majority in the legislative assembly. The development capped two weeks of political drama which split the Shiv Sena, Shinde’s party, and brought down the government of Uddhav Thackeray, the Sena supremo who was challenged by Shinde and his loyalists.

Shinde, who has been backed by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), proved his government’s majority on the assembly floor following a vote by head count.

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While Shinde’s camp got 164 votes, his opponents got 99. The assembly has 288 seats (287 at the moment after the death of one Sena legislator). A number of legislators were not present.

Maharashtra drama: New chief minister Shinde loses party as ex CM Thackeray sacks him from Sena

Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav and a former minister of the state, voted against the whip issued by Sena’s chief whip Bharat Gogawale, appointed on Sunday (3) night, and might face disqualification proceedings.

The Shinde camp now has the backing of 40 Shiv Sena members of the legislative assembly after Santosh Bangar, who belonged to the Uddhav camp, joined the former’s camp moments before the trust vote.

The floor test was held a day after the BJP’s Rahul Narwekar was elected as the assembly’s speaker. He reinstated Shinde as the Sena’s legislative party leader and recognised Gogawale’s appointment as the party’s chief whip.

The Shinde camp’s rebellion erupted on June 20 night and it rocked the Sena to the point that Thackeray offered his resignation on June 29 after understanding that he had little chance of proving his government’s majority on the floor. The Supreme Court of India insisted that Thackeray had to prove his majority on the floor of the house, as was ordered by the governor.

Shinde took over as the new chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday (30) after BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis made a shock announcement. He took over as Shinde’s deputy in a move that political observers called a master stroke.