In a pre-emptive move to avoid another spell of President’s Rule, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine reportedly on Monday proposed ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ and staked its claim to form the government in Maharashtra.
Respective leaders of the three parties reached the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor BS Koshyari.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had earlier in the day said that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party along with the NCP and the Congress will meet Governor today.
An NCP spokesperson told IANS that the leaders of the three parties had met the Governor to register their claim to form the government in the future as “the present government in the state was definitely going to fall.”
Congress state spokesperson said that Maharashtra must not get President’s Rule again and the Maha Vikas Aghadi should be given the chance to form the government.
NCP leaders Nawab Malik said that the delegations have submitted support letters of a total 160 MLAs of the three parties to the Governor’s office.
Nawab Malik also urged newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to quit and correct his mistake. “The matter is in the Supreme Court at 10:30am. We have 165 MLAs’ support and out of 54 NCP MLAs, we have has the support of 53, except that of Ajit Pawar. The BJP doesn’t have the numbers and they should step down before facing the humiliation. We request Ajit Pawar to step down and rectify his mistake,” Malik had earlier said.
Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said the party will decide on his nephew Ajit Pawar’s ouster.
Interestingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party has also claimed the support of over 170 MLAs on their side including its own 105, besides others from the NCP, independents and smaller parties.
The move came barely an hour before the Supreme Court hearing on a petition filed by the three parties on the circumstances leading to the swearing-in of BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy CM early on Saturday by Governor BS Koshyari.