Uddhav Thackeray,
the Maharashtra chief minister, is battling a rebellion within his party and
coronavirus. The Maharashtra government is at serious risk of falling after
Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde launched a rebellion against the Maha Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) government, a coalition of Shiv Sena, Congress and the Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP). Shinde is said to have garnered enough support from
within the Shiv Sena to topple the state government.

Sanjay Raut, one
of the most visible national faces of the Shiv Sena and editor of party
newspaper Saamna, tweeted in Marathi Wednesday afternoon writing: “The
political developments in Maharashtra are heading towards a dismissal of the
Vidhan Sabha,” a sign, as clear as day, that the MVA government is heading
towards a fall.

The same Raut had
earlier said, “Power is fleeting. What will happen at most? We’ll lose power.
We will get it back again.” He said this while claiming that he had spoken to
rebel MLA Eknath Shinde for an hour.

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In a desperate bid
to save the government, Uddhav Thackeray chaired a meeting with his cabinet on
Wednesday afternoon. All Shiv Sena MLAs have been asked to come to the chief
minister’s residence at 5pm. They have been warned that non-attendance would
mean dismissal.

Eknath Shinde, the
rebel leader who was Shiv Sena’s chief whip until he was dismissed, engineered
the crisis when the BJP won five seats in the Rajya Sabha instead of four
because of cross-voting within the Shiv Sena. Shinde, media reports indicate,
wants the Shiv Sena to dissolve the MVA government and rule Maharashtra in a
coalition with the BJP.

The BJP has 106 seats
in the Maharashtra Assembly. In order to form a government, it needs 37 more
MLAs. Eknath Shinde claims to have the numbers. While Shinde is keen on taking
the Shiv Sena along, sources with the party have indicated to various media
networks that Uddhav Thackeray may be willing to let the government fall than
partner-up with the BJP.