By Sana Fazili
Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in Maharashtra is on shaky grounds after Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde decided to do a coup against the party early this week. As of now, Shinde is one MLA short of splitting the party in two and toppling the Maharashtra government. Led by Shinde, around 35 Shiv Sena MLAs are camped in a hotel in Guwahati.
Shiv Sena in alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) comprise Maharashtra's current dispensation Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. However, the coalition is now on the verge of collapse after Shinde's revolt. The revolting MLA has said he is acting in the interests of the Shiv Sena.
Also Read: What Is The Anti-Defection Law And How Is It Applicable In Maharashtra?
While Thackeray's next course of action is not known, he left his official residence and went to his personal home Matoshree on Wednesday night after he urged the rebel party members to return in his speech.
The past few years have seen state governments being toppled after the coalition partners withdraw support or after revolt from party members. Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, J&K are among such states which went through political turmoil. Rajasthan too underwent turbulence, but chief minister Ashok Gehlot managed to hold the party together even as deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot seemed unhappy with the party.
Here is a list of states where the governments collapsed in the past few years:
J&K
The erstwhile state had gone to elections in 2014 where the People's Democratic Party secured 28 seats, while the BJP won from 25 seats, followed by National Conference with 15 seats. The PDP and the BJP formed a coalition, surprising everyone since the two parties had ideological differences. The first jolt to the coalition came in January 2016 when the then-chief minister Mufti Mohammed Syed died after brief illness. While the coalition partners discussed the new CM candidate, governor's rule was imposed. Later Mufti's daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, took charge as the chief minister.
While her tenure was punctuated with events like death of militant commander Burhan Wani in 2016, the real trouble began when Mehbooba called for an all-party meeting in the wake of rise in civilian killings during clashes near encounter sites. She called for 'Ramzan ceasefire', akin to ceasefire announced by Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his prime ministership in 2003. However, deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta of the BJP opposed the idea
Rajnath Singh was the home minister then and he declared that unilateral ceasefire would not be extended in Kashmir since there had been a rise in militancy related cases. On June 18, 2018 all BJP ministers of the state were summoned to Delhi by the party high command and a day later, the BJP withdrew from the coalition. Governor's rule was imposed and Assembly dissolved since no party staked claim to form the government. There has been no elected government in the state since then. Post abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the state was bifurcated into two union territories, J&K and Ladakh.
Karnataka
The Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress ran a coalition government for almost a year from 2018 to 2019. However, the alliance failed in 2019 after rebel MLAs from both the parties resigned. Among the MLAs who resigned included AH Vishwanath, former JD(S) president, who remarked that the coalition government had failed to 'fulfill the aspirations of the people'. The trouble had been brewing within the alliance from the beginning itself since the parties sparred over portfolio allocations and seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha Polls in 2019.
The coalition was led by JD(S)'s HD Kumawarswamy who lost the trust vote in the Assembly. The BJP subsequently came to power in the state and has been running the government since then.
Madhya Pradesh
The Congress had won the state elections here in 2018 and Kamal Nath was made the chief minister. There was a close contest between the old-guard Nath and young face Jyotiraditya Scindia for the post. However, the Congress chose old-guard. The government was a little over two years in March 2020 when Scindia took everyone by surprise with his rebellion against the party. On March 10, Scindia said he would quit the party after being disgruntled with the Congress and its leadership. A day later, the Congress said Scindia was expelled on grounds of anti-party activities. MLAs loyal to him followed him out of the party, plunging the government into a crisis. Nath tendered his resignation on March 23 and BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan took oath as the chief minister the same day, Scindia later joined the BJP.
