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With the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra facing a full-blown political crisis due to revolt in Shiv Sena, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said that NCP will stand with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray till the end.
"We will stand will Uddhav Thackerayji till the end. We are keeping an eye on the current political situation," the NCP leader said at a press conference. The Deputy CM further said that all the three parties in the alliance - NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena- have the responsibility to "save the government". The political crisis in Maharashtra has intensified with three more Shiv Sena MLAs joining the rebel group led by Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde in Guwahati on Thursday. They reached the hotel in Guwahati where other MLAs are campaigning. Last night four more MLAs joined Shinde in Guwahati. The rebel MLAs had earlier adopted a resolution with signatures of 34 legislators stating that Eknath Shinde continues to be the leader of the legislative party. The resolution was sent to state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari Ajit Pawar expressed surprise over Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's 'quit MVA' remark and said only he knows why he made such a statement". "I will call CM and ask him why Sanjay Raut made such a statement. Did Raut give this statement only to bring back the rebel MLAs of Shiv Sena? I will discuss Sanjay Raut's remarks with the Chief Minister," he said. Raut said earlier in the day that the party is ready to consider exiting the Maha Vikas Aghadi government consisting of Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena, if this is the will of the MLAs. His remarks came in the context of rebel MLAs raising questions over alliance with Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party and Uddhav Thackeray expressing his willingness to resign if rebel MLAs come back from Guwahati and make such a demand. Raut said MLAs should not communicate from Guwahati. "They should come back to Mumbai and discuss all this with CM. We are ready to consider exiting out of MVA if this is the will of all MLAs, but for that, they have to come here and discuss it with the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray," he said. Raut further claimed that 21 MLAs in Guwahati have contacted Shiv Sena and when they return to Mumbai they will be with the party. "Uddhav Thackeray will come back to Varsha very soon. 21 MLAs in Guwahati have contacted us and when they return to Mumbai, they will be with us," he added NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who was part of the meeting of NCP MLAs, said that they will extend support to the chief minister till the last moment, adding that they have the numbers to save the government. "We stand with CM Uddhav Thackeray and will support him till the last moment... We have numbers as no MLA of Shiv Sena has resigned nor Shiv Sena has expelled anyone from the party," he said. Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole hit out at the BJP over the political turbulence in the state alleging that the party is "trying to destabilise the government and split Shiv Sena". "BJP is trying to destabilise the government, BJP is trying to split Shiv Sena. We're working on how to sort this out... Maha Vikas Aghadi govt will continue and will complete five years. We're keeping an eye on the situation. Congress stands with MVA," he said. The Congress leader further stated that the party can provide "outside support" to the MVA government also if such a situation arises. "If the time comes then we can provide support to the Maha Vikas Aghadi govt from outside also...It was our regular meeting and not happened on the statement of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut," Patole said. (ANI)
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