The government of yet another opposition-ruled state, Maharashtra, is on the verge of collapsing. The three-party alliance government of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress ran into trouble after the majority of Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled. The Eknath Shinde-led rebel camp in Guwahati has 37 of the 55 Sena MLAs. He has already reached the critical number of MLAs, 37, required to split the party in the assembly without falling foul of the anti-defection law. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddav Thackeray made an emotional appeal to them to come back but the MLAs are not agreeing to the appeal.
Earlier, the Shiv Sena on Thursday said that it would consider exiting the Maharashtra alliance with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and the Congress but only if the rebels return “in 24 hours” – a huge climbdown as the rebel group gained numbers. The BJP has denied the accusation of engineering an ‘Operation Lotus’ in Maharashtra. Videos from the Guwahati hotel where the rebels are staying, however, showed a BJP minister of Assam standing with the group. Before the MLAs moved in, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also seen at the hotel. The MLAs first camped in Gujarat in other BJP-ruled states, and from there were shifted to Guwahati. Even though the BJP has distanced itself from the crisis, signs of its involvement look obvious. In the recent years, the BJP has managed to topple many opposition-ruled states, including Arunachal Pradesh. This is not good for democracy. If governments are formed on the basis of horse trading and buying of MLAs, what is the point of conducting elections? The repeated toppling of opposition governments is not good and it is hurting Indian democracy.