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

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's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the BJP and NCP's Ajit Pawar have "maligned" the constitutional values and the Devendra Fadnavis government in the state is "illegitimate".

A floor test is the only answer to the current crisis, Surjewala asserted. In a joint plea by the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena on Sunday, Congress leader and former state chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said they have sought the Supreme Court's intervention to order a floor test immediately.

Chavan said any delay in floor test would lead to horse-trading of MLAs. Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kiritkar, who was also at the Supreme Court, said the letter stating NCP's support that was given by Ajit Pawar to the governor was misleading. He said the NCP MLAs who backed Ajit Pawar are back with the party.

In a dramatic development on Saturday morning, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 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. Surjewala claimed that the BJP and Ajit Pawar are running away from a floor test as the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena combine has the majority.

"Our demand is simple. Let us have a floor test and whoever has the majority will be established. The 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 the BJP, in a surreptitious midnight operation using the office of the governor, constituted an illegitimate government," he said.

Replying to a question on whether the Cong-NCP-Sena have numbers to prove the majority, Chavan said, "We have been insisting on a floor test which means we have the numbers. It is the BJP which is shying away from it." The Supreme Court has not granted any immediate relief to the NCP-Cong-Sena which demanded ordering of a floor test in 24 hours.

It has asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to place before it by 10.30 am on Monday 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 Sunday, 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.