Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray
Mumbai: As Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday resigned from his Maharashtra Chief Minister's post, a rebel Shiv Sena MLA from the Eknath Shinde camp has said that his resignation "is not a matter of joy for us".
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Deepak Kesarkar, the spokesman of the faction, indicated that the rift was a fallout of the party's alliance with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
He also underscored how the increasing prominence of Sena leader Sanjay Raut, according to some party insiders, had made rebel leader Eknath Shinde uncomfortable.
He also expressed disappointment that Uddhav Thackeray did not take note of the issues pointed out by them.
The rebellion by Eknath Shinde and 50 MLAs supporting him -- 40 of them from the Shiv Sena -- has spelled the end for the alliance government led by Thackeray.
The faction contended that they wished to call off the "unnatural" alliance with the ideologically incompatible Congress and the NCP and get back together with the BJP.
After the eight-day political turmoil, Thackeray stepped down from the post on Wednesday evening when the Supreme Court ruled that his government has to take the floor test today as ordered by the Governor.
The Team Thackeray, shrinking to 15-odd MLAs following Shinde's rebellion, had asked the court to stop the floor test.
The rebel MLAs, who were camping out initially in Surat and then in Guwahati, went to Goa today amid the day-long suspense over the floor test.
Shinde's faction declared in court that they were the real Shiv Sena and wants to renew its alliance with the BJP.
With Thackeray's resignation, the floor test is now void. The BJPs Devendra Fadnavis is likely to stake claim to form a government, with Shinde as his deputy, sources have said.