The Mahayuti in Maharashtra stormed to power winning 230 of the state’s 288 Assembly seats and the suspense over who would be the next Chief Minister is likely to end on Wednesday.

Since its victory, there have been conflicting voices within the alliance with a section of the BJP as well as the Shiv Sena pushing for Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde, respectively.

The suspense got deeper on Tuesday after Shinde resigned as CM and was asked to continue as caretaker CM by Governor C P Radhakrishnan.

In context: On Sunday, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “A decision on the CM will be taken by party Central leaders and the BJP parliamentary board. There will be adequate consultation with alliance partners.”

However, the Shiv Sena did not seem to have given up its hope of the Mahayuti retaining Shinde as the CM. A leader from his camp said, “Mahayuti fought the Assembly election under the leadership of Eknath Shinde and achieved a historic mandate. So, the alliance should decide to continue with him as Chief Minister.” The party also appointed Shinde as its legislature party leader.

On the other hand, the NCP, which convened a legislature party meeting and appointed Ajit Pawar as its leader, indicated that it would have no objection to Fadnavis becoming CM.

An apex body of Imphal Valley-based civil society organisations representing Meiteis in Manipur on Tuesday said it has decided to observe a “shutdown” of central and state government offices for two days from November 27, demanding removal of AFSPA and an operation against suspected Kuki militants.

Addressing a press conference, Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) coordinator Thokchom Somorendro alleged that the state government has “failed” to act on a resolution adopted during the November 18 meeting of legislators to initiate an operation against suspected Kuki militants.

“The state government, in a meeting of NDA legislators on November 18, had adopted a resolution for removal of AFSPA and to conduct a ‘mass operation’ against Kuki militants within seven days. However, the government has failed to act on its resolution within the stipulated time frame,” he alleged.

The meeting, held on November 18 night, was attended by 27 MLAs.

“To register our protests over the government’s failure to act on the resolution, all offices of the state and central governments will be locked and shut down for two days from Wednesday,” Somorendro said. Offices linked to essential services and educational institutions will be “exempted from the shutdown”, he said.

COCOMI also demanded the removal of two Kuki ministers in Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s cabinet.

More than 250 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday is likely to hear pleas on whether its 2022 verdict, which upheld the Enforcement Directorate’s powers to arrest and attach property under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, needs to be reconsidered.

In its 2022 verdict, the Supreme Court upheld the ED’s powers of arrest and attachment of property involved in money laundering, search and seizure under the PMLA.

President Droupadi Murmu will begin her three-day visit to Tamil Nadu from Wednesday, her office said on Tuesday.

The President will address the faculty and student officers of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington on November 28, it said.

On November 29, Murmu will interact with the members of tribal women self-help groups and the prominent members of the tribal community in Nilgiris district at Raj Bhavan, Udhagamandalam.

The President will grace the convocation ceremony of the Central University of Tamil Nadu at Thiruvarur on November 30, the statement said.

– With PTI inputs

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