Mumbai, Nov 23, TEN Network | The BJP staked claim late Friday night to form the next government in Maharashtra on the strength of its own 105 legislators along with NCP’s 54 and 11 independent legislators, a senior BJP leader said Saturday after Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took oath and chief minister and deputy chief minister.
The BJP now claims it has the support of 170 legislators, 25 more than the 145 lawmakers needed for the majority mark of 145 in the 288-member house. The party has been given a week until November 30 to prove their majority on the floor of the assembly.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar has said that his nephew and senior leader Ajit Pawar’s decision to go with the BJP did not have the backing of the party.
On October 30, Ajit Pawar was unanimously re-elected as the legislature party leader of the NCP at the meeting of the newly-elected MLAs. The BJP claims he had had the support letter of all his party MLAs. Unless he is expelled by his party, he can issue a whip to all 54 party MLAs to follow his cue to support the BJP government.
“We have given the governor support letter of NCP’s 54 MLAs and 11 independent legislators besides our own members. If at all NCP splits even then we are confident that more than 30 legislators will back him and us. Also, in the changing scenario we will get the support of majority of the independent MLAs,” said a senior BJP leader, who did not want to be named.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar has called all NCP MLAs to his residence Silver Oak this afternoon. Those who are not in Mumbai have been asked to reach by 4.30 pm. BJP leaders have claimed that he had been in the loop over the discussions to support their government.
The BJP leader quoted above said that a week was more than enough to get support of the requisite number of legislators.
Saturday’s early morning coup by the BJP short-circuited the Shiv Sena’s quest for power after it had seemed poised to make a bid for form the government with the backing of the Congress and the NCP. On Friday, Sharad Pawar had even said that Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray would be the chief minister.
Nearly 29 independent and small parties representatives were elected in the state assembly polls. The BJP now expects nearly all barring ideological opponents like AIMIM and Samajwadi Party to give them support. The AIMIM and the Samajwadi Party have two MLAs each. (HT)
