BJP running away from proving majority; should prove majority immediately: Cong

PTI, Nov 24, 2019, 3:41 PM IST

New Delhi: Demanding a floor test immediately, the Congress on Sunday alleged that the BJP is “running away” from proving a majority in the Maharashtra Assembly as it does not have the required numbers.

Congress leader and former state chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in a joint plea by the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena said they have sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to order a floor test immediately.

Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the current government in the state is “illegitimate” and a floor test is the only solution.

In a dramatic development on Saturday morning, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister and Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was sworn-in as the deputy chief minister.

The move jolted the the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena who were giving final touches to government formation in the state but rattled the NCP the most due to Ajit Pawar’s rebellion.

NCP president Sharad Pawar had snubbed Ajit Pawar for taking decisions unilaterally.

The BJP and Ajit Pawar are running away from a floor test as the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena combine has the majority, Surjewala claimed.

“Our demand is simple. Let us have a floor test and whoever has the majority will be established. BJP and Ajit Pawar are shying away and running away from proving majority on the floor of the House.

“The moment a floor test is ordered, our majority will be established and it will be proved that BJP in a surreptitious midnight operation using the office of the governor constituted an illegitimate government,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Sunday asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to place before it on Monday morning the letters of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari recommending revocation of President’s rule in the state and inviting Fadnavis to form government.

In the special hearing on a holiday, the apex court also issued notices to the Centre and the Maharashtra government on the petition filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine against the governor’s decision to swear in Fadnavis as the chief minister.