Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Thursday sounded confident as he said there is no threat to the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government at a time when the unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court Constitution Bench in the Uddhav versus Shinde case was awaited."Many call this government unconstitutional. But as long as they have the support of 145 MLAs, there is no danger. The comment triggered speculation about whether Ajit Pawar is still in touch with the BJP and in case the MLAs who joined the Shinde camp last year are disqualified whether Ajit Pawar and his MLAs will extend support to the Shinde-Fadnavis government.It could be a ‘make or break’ day for Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Shiv Sena faction led by him as a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is set to pronounce on Thursday its verdict on a batch of petitions filed by rival Shiv Sena in connection with the Maharashtra political crisis.
The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud also comprises Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha. The Supreme Court bench is expected to decide whether Eknath Shinde and 15 other Shiv Sena MLAs could be disqualified for revolting against then CM Uddhav Thackeray in June last year.Uddhav Thackeray had pleaded before the Supreme Court to step in after Shinde, backed by the opposition BJP, engineered a split into Shiv Sena and later formed a new government in Maharashtra with the support of majority MLAs. If Eknath Shinde is disqualified, he will have to resign as Maharashtra Chief Minister and his government will be disbanded. The bench then said that some of the issues involved in the Maharashtra political crisis may require a larger Constitution bench for consideration. There are various petitions pending before the apex court filed by both factions of Shiv Sena. On June 29, 2022, the top court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30.It had refused to stay the Maharashtra Governor’s direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30. After the apex court’s order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief Minister.