New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray resigned from the post in an emotional address on Facebook Live on June 29. Thackeray, heading the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, announced his decision after the Supreme Court refused to stay the Maharashtra Governor’s direction to hold a floor test in the Assembly on June 30.
The political crisis in Maharashtra had reached the Supreme Court when Shiv Sena chief whip approached the apex court challenging the Maharashtra Governor’s direction.
The rebellion of a large section of Shiv Sena MLAs, led by senior party leader Eknath Shinde brought the MVA government on the verge of collapse. Shinde has been claiming that he has the support of around 40 Shiv Sena MLAs and several independent legislators.
The Shiv Sena with 55 MLAs, headed the MVA government. The Congress party having 44 MLAs and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 53 legislators were the alliance partners of the MVA government. The opposition BJP has 106 MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly having a total strength of 288 members.
CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide survey for IANS to know the people’s views about Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staking claim to form the government in the state in such a situation.
The survey highlighted that the majority of Indians believe that the BJP should take initiative to form the government in Maharashtra. During the survey, while 61 per cent of the respondents asserted that BJP should stake the claim to form a new government in the state, 39 per cent expressed completely different opinions on the issue.
Interestingly, during the survey, while the majority of NDA voters — 80 per cent stressed that it is the right time for the BJP to take the lead to form the government in the state, opinion of opposition voters was divided on the issue.
As per the survey data, while 56 per cent opposition voters said that the BJP should not take initiative to form the government, 44 per cent spoke in favour of the BJP taking the lead to return to power in the state.
Notably, during the survey, the majority of respondents from most of the social groups expressed their views in favour of the BJP staking claims to form the government. As per the survey data, 65 per cent UCH, 71 per cent OBC, 67 per cent SC and 63 per cent ST respondents spoke in favour of the BJP taking the initiative to the government. At the same time, the majority of Muslims — 70 per cent expressed a completely different opinion on the issue.
–IANS