Mumbai: In an anticipated development, the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has decided to spike the names of 12 MLCs nominated by the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi regime headed by ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray.
Shinde has written to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari seeking withdrawal of the 12 names recommended by the Thackeray government in November 2020 for Members of Legislative Council from the Governor’s quota.
Though 23 months elapsed, the Raj Bhavan took no decision on the MVA nominations and even the Bombay High Court had commented on the delays.
However, Shinde declined to comment saying he would inform the media on this soon.
The MVA — comprising Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress — had agreed on a ‘4-4-4’ formula for the 12 vacant seats, and the Shinde-Fadnavis coalition is reportedly working on a 8-4 ratio to fill up the dozen seats.
The term of 12 MLCs nominated for six years to the Upper House from the Governor’s quota expired in June 2020 and since then they remain unfilled.
Despite repeated pleas by MVA since November 2020 to clear the MLCs list of prominent personalities, there was no response from Raj Bhavan.
State Congress General Secretary Sachin Sawant and NCP Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase commented strongly on upcoming developments over the contentious issue.
“The BJP is blatantly trying to undermine the Constitution and subvert the democracy in the country by nominating BJP-RSS political persons who misuse positions like the Raj Bhavan. This is sad and regretful,” said Sawant.
Tapase called upon the Governor to exercise his ‘raj dharma’ and immediately clear the original list duly submitted by the MVA government to avoid politicising the issue.
As per the rules, while the Governor has to abide by the recommendations of the state cabinet, there is no deadline within which he has to clear the nominations.
The delays had resulted in several letters being sent by the MVA and its constituents and delegations to Raj Bhavan to get the list cleared but the efforts proved to be futile.
On June 29, 2022, the MVA collapsed with the Shinde-Fadnavis duo taking over the following day and now the latter will send its own list of MLCs to Raj Bhavan for clearance.
