Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde wins confidence vote, says was denied top posts in 2019

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde just stopped short of revealing all secrets of what he called a lsquorevoltrsquo not lsquorebellionrsquo after winning the confidence vote with 164 against 99 in the Assembly on Monday The Shiv Sena faction leader who decamped with 40 party MLAs and 10 independents to topple the Uddhav Thackeray government minced no words while telling the house the reasons behind his lsquohistoricrsquo moveSince 2019Shinde said it was decided he would be the CM after the MVA was formed in 2019 but the party leadership had said he was not acceptable to the allies ldquoAjit Pawar told me later that his party was not opposed to my candidature because it was the Senarsquos internal call But we were told that the NCP did not want me for the postrdquo the CM saidSpeaking about the events in 2019 he said the BJP had agreed to give Sena deputy CMrsquos post but the party rejected the offer He narrated how Sena MLAs were disappointed with the Maha Vikas Aghadi and feared extinction of the Sena in the hands of the allies unchecked by the Sena leadership which had departed from the late Balasaheb Thackerays Hindutva ideologyThe shiftldquoIt is rare that ministers and elected MLAs have shifted Usually people who are not in power get attracted to the people in government but this time around it was something else It was for Hindutva ideology that the people gave us the mandate in 2019 I am proud of my 50 MLAs who risked everything against the then mighty government and the machinery at their disposalrdquo he saidShinde said ldquoI told my colleagues that I will protect them and their careers I was ready to be a sole martyr in the fight I told them I will lay my life for them There was no coming backrdquo He also slammed the Uddhav Thackeray Sena for abusing them removing them from the party and other positions Recalling the sacrifices he made for the party he said ldquoDespite all that they were out to destroy merdquoOne more MLA Santosh Bangar joined the Sena group hours before the floor test taking the number to 40 ldquoBangar told me that of the 15 left there four to five are willing to come over to our siderdquoHe added that his MLAs had not betrayed the Sena because they did not cross vote in the Rajya Sabha and Council polls lsquoUddhav didnrsquot listenrsquoShinde said he had approached the then CM Thackeray at least five times about the unrest brewing in the ranks ldquoWe couldnrsquot speak against the parties that spoke against Vinayak Savarkar and couldnrsquot demand action against the people who had links with Dawood Ibrahim We couldnrsquot ask for renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad which happened only after we revoltedrdquo he saidldquoHow could we sit with the Congress that had asked for disenfranchising Balasaheb Thackeray It revolt is not a oneday event It has been brewing for a long timerdquo he saidHis colleague Gulabrao Patil said he had gone to their party chief Thackeray to request him to talk with Shinde ldquoBut I was bluntly told I was free to go if I wanted This was the attitude Canrsquot you value MLAs and ministers We were never asked to return The coterie around our leadership has brought the party to such a stagerdquoBJP support and future planShinde said he had the full support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda ldquoBut I must also thank the real artist behind all this Devendra Fadnavisrdquo he said as he went on to reveal how the two would meet ldquoI would go out after my colleagues were sleeping and return before they woke uprdquoHe vowed to win more than 200 seats next time together with the BJP ldquoWho says the MLAs who shift sides donrsquot win again We have not quit the Shiv Sena We donrsquot care what election symbol we get but I will ensure that all my 50 MLAs return to the house I along with Fadnavis will ensure that we all get 200 seats in the next pollsrdquolsquoUddhav camp to face actionrsquoShinde said the 15 MLAs who voted against his whip were liable for action disqualification In a surprise move the Shinde SenaBJP moved a confidence motion to support newly elected speaker Rahul Narwekar on Monday and passed it Fadnavis said ldquoThe MVA moved a noconfidence motion against the speaker to stall the disqualification proceedings as the speaker cannot decide on petitions if he faces a noconfidence notice It was the MVArsquos plot which we defeatedrdquoUddhav Sena firmThe group led by Uddhav Thackeray said they would be pressing for disqualification of 40 MLAs who have violated their whip The party moved the Supreme Court on Monday but was told that the matter would be heard on July 11Earlier the speaker had approved Shinde as a leader of the Sena legislative party and Bharat Gogawale as chief whip displacing Ajay Chaudhari and Sunil Prabhu of the Uddhav group164No of votes ShindeFadnavis got during the trust voteCongress MLAs miss votingCong MLAs at Assembly lobbyNine Congress MLAs could not vote as they arrived after the doors to the house were shut MLA Zeeshan Siddique said the doors closed couple of minutes before they could enter ldquoWe requested the speaker to allow us because the voting had not begun but were denied entryrdquo ExCM Ashok Chavan however denied any political angle to the development ldquoThe fact is that we arrived laterdquoTo cut VAT on fuelCM Eknath Shinde announced that the government will reduce VAT on fuel to give relief to the people ldquoThe previous government did not do it even after the PMrsquos appeal We will do it by formally taking a decision at the Cabinet meetingrdquo he said