The Maharashtra political crisis has reached the Supreme Court with two separate petitions filed by the Eknath Shinde group challenging the appointment of Ajay Choudhari as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader and the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly to 16 rebel Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
The SC vacation bench and the registrar are likely to hear the Shinde camp's pleas at 10.30 am today.
A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala is likely to hear Shinde's plea seeking directions to the Deputy Speaker to not take any action in the disqualification petition against him. They have also asked the court to direct the Maharashtra government to provide security to their families.
The Shiv Sena filed appeals for disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs earlier this week with the Deputy Speaker. The Shinde camp claimed the move was illegal since disqualification can happen only for matters in the assembly and not for skipping a party meeting.
Earlier, Supreme Court lawyer Devadatt Kamat told reporters that there are many precedents of disqualification of MLAs for anti-party activities from outside the state.
Also, the law says that rebel MLAs have to merge with some other party or they will be disqualified. In this matter, the Deputy Speaker has "all kinds of rights" in the absence of a Speaker, he added.
The Sena is also planning other actions against the rebel ministers. Sources said Eknath Shinde, Gulabrao Patil, and Dada Buse are likely to lose their portfolios. Abdul Sattar and Shamburaje Desai are also likely to face action.
Meanwhile, Uday Sawant became the ninth Maharashtra minister to join the rebel camp. The rebels claim they have a two-thirds majority, which would enable them to split the party in the assembly without invoking the disqualification laws.
Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, a close aide of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, lashed out at the rebels today, saying, "The one who betrays Balasaheb is finished… From now on, we have to decide who to trust".
Sena sources claimed that at least 20 MLAs camping with Shinde are in touch with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Some of them are against a merger with the BJP.
Despite being reduced to a minority, Team Thackeray has also written to the Election Commission against the Shinde faction's move to call themselves "Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray" and stake claim for the party symbol.