Uddhav's entry into Council: MVA leaders meet governor

Mumbai: Leaders of the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday and requested him to consider the cabinet recommendation proposing Uddhav Thackeray’s appointment to the Legislative Council as the governor’s nominee.

The delegation was led by Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Its other members were Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab and Textiles Minister Aslam Shaikh.

On Monday, the cabinet made a fresh recommendation proposing Chief Minister Thackeray’s nomination to one of the two vacant seats in the Council in the governor’s quota.

Thackeray, who is not a member of either the Assembly or the Council, needs to get elected to either house of state legislature by May 28.

He was sworn in as chief minister on November 28, 2019, and has to become a member of the legislature in six months, otherwise he will have to resign.

The MVA alliance decided to send him to legislature as the governor’s nominee after biennial elections to the Council were postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, and made a recommendation to the governor to nominate him on April 9.

However, the governor is yet to take a decision.