Sharad Pawar said that many rebel MLAs will return to their parent party, an NCP leader said (File)
Mumbai:
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said mid-term elections are likely in Maharashtra as the government led by rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde may fall in the next six months. He made this statement while addressing NCP MLAs and other party leaders in Mumbai in the evening.
An NCP leader who attended the meeting quoted Pawar as saying, “The newly formed government in Maharashtra may fall in the next six months, so everyone should be prepared for the mid-term polls.”
“Pawar said that many rebel MLAs supporting Shinde are not happy with the current system. Once the ministerial portfolios are divided, their unrest will come to the fore, which will eventually result in the fall of the government,” he said.
Mr Pawar also pointed out that due to the failure of this experiment, many rebel MLAs would return to their original party. He said that if we have only six months in our hands, then NCP MLAs should spend more time in their respective assembly constituencies.
Mr. Shinde was on Thursday sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the collapse of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, while senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Mr. Shinde’s deputy.
Around 40 Shiv Sena MLAs, led by Mr Shinde, revolted against the party leadership, resulting in the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on Wednesday.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)