Mumbai: On a big day in the Maharashtra Assembly, the minority BJP government has crossed a first hurdle. BJP’s Haribhau Bagde has been elected the pro-tem Speaker unopposed, after the Shiv Sena and the Congress withdrew their candidates. Now, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP must win the floor test for his party to remain in power.
The election for the speaker’s post is to be held around 11 AM. Shiv Sena had nominated Vijay Auti and Congress Varsha Gaikwad. Meanwhile, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has told his MLAs to vote against the BJP government as he does not trust the party. Sources said Thackeray is unwilling to accept any proposal from any other leader but BJP chief Amit Shah.
Even Shah urged Thackeray to support the BJP government in the trust vote assuring him that the power-sharing issue will be resolved then. Sources said that the Sena is still stuck to its stand of deciding on power-sharing before the trust vote. “Uddhav Thackeray had told Amit Shah that his party was willing to be a part of the government provided they sort out the power sharing formula before the floor test,” sources added.
The Devendra Fadnavis government needs 144 MLAs to prove its majority on the floor of the House and claims support of 138 MLAs including independents and smaller parties. The Nationalist Congress Party has already offered unconditional outside support to the BJP.
Maharashtra went to the polls on October 15, 2014. For the first time in two decades, it witnessed a five-cornered contest as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena ended their 25-year alliance (and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress their 15-year coalition) and with Maharashtra Navanirman Sena also being in the fray. On October 19 the results of the Maharashtra bypolls were announced and the BJP won in a simple majority with 123 seats while the Shiv Sena won 63.
Bureau Report
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