Mumbai: The three-day special session of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly begins on Monday and all eyes are on Shiv Sena, which is yet to take a decision on supporting the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in the state or sit in the Opposition.
Triggering a political crisis, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had on Sunday warned that his party would sit in the opposition if the minority BJP government took the NCP’s help to win the trust vote, which is scheduled on November 12.
Even as Shiv Sena on Sunday warned the BJP against taking support of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for survival, the BJP standing with 121 MLAs in its fold, as the single largest party in the state elections, seems to be banking on the “outside” support offered by the Sharad Pawar-led party which has indicated that it may vote in favour of the minority government on the floor of the House instead of abstaining from vote as it had said earlier.
The NCP, with 41 MLAs, has assured its outside support, sans any condition, to the new government. The Shiv Sena has 63 MLAs, and is the second largest party in the 288-member House after BJP. It will be interesting to see how BJP cobble up requisite strength to achieve the magic figure of 145 MLAs to survive the floor test.
Meanwhile, Congress which has 42 members in the House, said it will stake claim for post of the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly. “As soon as the party high-command nominates our party group leader in the Assembly, we will stake claim to the post,” MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre said on Sunday.
The three-day special session of the Legislative Assembly will begin with Governor C Vidyasagar Rao administering the oath to Jeeva Pandu Gavit as Pro-tem Speaker of the Assembly in Raj Bhavan at 10 AM. Assembly proceedings will start at 11 AM and the first two days will see the members of the 13th Assembly take oath.
The Sena was, however, in for a shock when the BJP unilaterally picked up former union minister Suresh P Prabhu for a cabinet berth while Sena nominee party secretary Anil Y Desai was reportedly to get a junior berth in the central cabinet. Frantic efforts by the Sena to sort out the issue failed, and a peeved Thackeray recalled Desai minutes before the swearing-in ceremony started at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Bureau Report
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