 "Ask BJP govt to prove majority again, Sena & Congress urge Guv")
The Shiv Sena and the Congress on Thursday stepped up their attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Maharashtra for the manner in which a trust motion was passed through voice vote in the Assembly. The two parties have sought Governor C Vidyasagar Rao’s intervention, arguing there was no clarity on how many legislators voted in favour of the motion.
A delegation of Shiv Sena legislators, led by the leader of opposition in the Assembly Eknath Shinde, appealed to the governor that the BJP government be asked to again prove majority in the Assembly. The Shiv Sena also demanded that the BJP should be asked to declare the names of legislators who voted in its support in the 287-member Assembly.
The Shiv Sena announced it would give the state government a hard time. In an editorial in the party’s mouthpiece Saamna, the Shiv Sena said: “They (BJP) have lost the moral right to govern on Day 1.The government has failed to prove their majority and must answer. Can those who crush the Constitution to win the vote of confidence win the people’s trust?”
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Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackery will soon to take a call to fully severe its links with the BJP by asking party’s lone minister Anant Geete to resign from the Union government.
Meanwhile, the Congress also said the BJP government was unconstitutional and illegal. Congress MP Bhalchandra Mungekar challenged the constitutional status of the state government. He told Business Standard, “The Assembly Speaker did not complete the procedure of assessing the support for or opposition against the trust motion. Instead, he declared the motion as passed only after hearing the voice vote of the ruling party and failed to immediately ask as to who were against the motion. In view of this, this is not possible as to whether the majority of legislators present and expressing support were in majority.” He demanded that the Governor ask the government to again prove its majority on the floor of the House.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre said the party was examining all aspects of Wednesday’s confidence vote, and would soon come out with its future course of action to uphold the provisions of the Constitution.
Shiv Sena insiders admit the party made efforts till the last minute to reach an agreement with the BJP for joining the government. However, BJP stuck to its position that the Shiv Sena should not put any pre-conditions. Though the Shiv Sena, with 63 legislators, got the leader of opposition post, the BJP hopes to bring the Sena on board in the near future.
Eknath Shinde dismissed further talks of rapprochement with the BJP, but announced that the Shiv Sena would play a role of vigilant opposition for five years. “We have been told to get ready to play the role of a very strong opposition,” he said.