Sanjay Raut, MP and chief spokesperson for the Shiv Sena (UBT), urged the state’s bureaucracy and police on Friday not to “heed” the orders or directives of the government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, which the Supreme Court’s decision has deemed “unconstitutional and illegal.”
“The SC ruling is fairly explicit in this regard. Within three months, this ‘illegal’ administration must be overthrown. The Supreme Court’s ruling deeming the whole government to be “unconstitutional” means that even the remaining 24 MLAs will now be disqualified, according to Raut. We are still awaiting the Speaker’s judgment about the dismissal of 16 MLAs.
He cited certain media outlets that described the SC ruling as a “relief” for the state administration as “tantamount to potential contempt of the Supreme Court” and accused the Shinde-Fadnavis team of disseminating “misinformation” and “half-truths” about it in order to portray it as a “victory.”
“In light of the events, all of the Shinde-Fadnavis government’s actions, decrees, etc., are declared unconstitutional… Raut grimly cautioned, “I urge on the authorities and police not to obey any commands of this ‘unconstitutional’ administration since it could have repercussions even for them in the future.
Attacking Rahul Narwekar, Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, the Rajya Sabha MP said that the Speaker is anticipated to announce his verdict about the disqualification of 16 MLAs, including CM Shinde.
The bureaucracy and police must defy any instructions from Shinde-Fadnavis, no matter what, said Raut, else there risked pandemonium. “Until then, this government has lost the moral authority to make any decisions or issue orders,” added Raut.
Narwekar, who has previously been affiliated with the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, the (original) Shiv Sena, and the current BJP, was also characterized by him as a guy without ideological convictions and solely interested in power.
After the SC instructed the Speaker to make a judgment about the disqualification of 16 MLAs within a reasonable amount of time on Thursday, Raut reaffirmed that “this ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ Shinde-Fadnavis government is destined to collapse very soon.”
