india

Updated: Apr 28, 2020 21:56 IST

Mumbai: A delegation of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ministers led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar met governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari Tuesday evening at Raj Bhavan and urged him to take a decision on nominating chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to the legislative council.

The meeting is seen as an attempt to build pressure on the Governor to take a decision on the recommendation of the state cabinet.

With under a month left for Thackeray to fulfil the constitutional requirement of becoming a member of either house of the state legislature, the alleged delay by the Governor has kept the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over Thackeray and the state government.

On Monday, the Maharashtra cabinet, in a meeting presided over by Pawar, decided to write to the Governor, reiterating its earlier recommendation to process the nomination of chief minister Thackeray to the legislative Council at the earliest.

On April 9, the state Cabinet had cleared a proposal recommending the nomination of Thackeray to Governor on the vacant seats of the upper house of the state legislature. The recommendation was sent to the governor but even after 19 days, the Raj Bhavan has not taken a decision.

“The Cabinet has again recommended Uddhav Thackeray [to be nominated]; a letter pertaining to it was submitted to the Governor. The group leaders of the three parties of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, deputy chief minister and Chhagan Bhujbal met the governor and yet again requested him to take a decision at the earliest on the recommendations that have made by the Cabinet twice,” said Jayant Patil, state minister and Maharashtra president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Besides Pawar, Patil, and Bhujbal, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Anil Parab and Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat were also part of the MVA delegation to the Raj Bhawan. Patil also declined to comment if the delay could be politically motivated to create instability in the state.

Thackeray, who is not a member of either of the House of the state legislature, took oath as the chief minister on November 28. According to Article 164 (4) of the Constitution, “a minister, who for any period of six consecutive months, is not a member of the legislature shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a minister”. The six-month period in Thackeray’s case will end on May 27. As the MLC polls, scheduled for April 24, were pushed back due to the pandemic, the Maharashtra cabinet recommended Governor Koshyari to appoint Thackeray as a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) to avoid a constitutional crisis.