5 days in office, Mahayuti govt wins confidence vote in state Assembly

Five days after assuming office, the Mahayuti alliance government in Maharashtra led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday comfortably won a confidence vote in the state assembly.

The trust motion, tabled by Shiv Sena MLA Uday Samant and others, was passed by a voice vote on the last day of the three-day special Assembly session.

Some opposition members were absent when the trust motion was approved in the assembly. They included Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray.

On December 4, when Governor C P Radhakrishnan handed Fadnavis the letter inviting him to form the government, he had stipulated in the document that the BJP leader must clear the trust motion in the House in 21 days, sources said.

Speaker Rahul Narwekar, elected unopposed for a second straight term earlier in the day, announced that the trust motion has been approved by the newly-constituted House.

The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP 'Mahayuti' coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats in the 288-member assembly, where the majority mark is 145.

"The confidence motion has been passed with a majority," Narwekar said.

BJP leader Fadnavis was sworn-in as the chief minister for a third time on December 5 at a grand ceremony in Mumbai's Azad Maidan. Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) took oath as deputy CMs at the ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 15th assembly officially began its tenure on December 7, two weeks the poll results were announced. With the BJP-led alliance enjoying a super majority in the lower House, the floor test was a mere formality.

Shiv Sena leader and former minister Samant, BJP legislator Sanjay Kute, former minister Dilip Walse Patil (NCP), and independent MLA Ravi Rana tabled the proposal for a confidence motion in the lower House.

With Narwekar's appointment as Speaker, the ruling coalition now enjoys the support of 229 MLAs, including small parties and independent MLAs.

Narwekar (47), the BJP MLA from Mumbai's Colaba seat and a lawyer by training, was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the 15th assembly. Opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which has less than 50 MLAs, did not put up a candidate.

Fadnavis, in his congratulatory speech, highlighted that Narwekar is only the second member of the lower House to be re-elected to the post since the state's formation in 1960.

"Balasaheb Bharde was the only Speaker of the legislative assembly to be re-elected to the post twice since 1960 when Maharashtra was formed. After Bharde, Narwekar is the second member of the assembly to receive the honour," the chief minister said.

During his first tenure, Narwekar had ruled that the party led by Eknath Shinde was the "real" Shiv Sena after a split in the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in 2022. He also held that the faction under Ajit Pawar was the "real" Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which was founded by Sharad Pawar.

Making a cursory reference to the verdict on the disputes involving the Shiv Sena and NCP, Fadnavis said, "During his first tenure as Speaker, Narwekar underwent some excruciating tests of his mettle, such as the decisions related to recognising the parties in the House. It was his 'agnipariksha' (trial by fire). His legal acumen proved invaluable during several debates in the chamber."  In the evening, Governor Radhakrishnan addressed a joint sitting of the legislature where he said Maharashtra has emerged as the No.1 destination among all states in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).

Members of the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) boycotted the Governor's address. Party leader Sunil Prabhu said the boycott was to protest against the Karnataka government's suppression of the voices of the Marathi community in the disputed border areas.

Maharashtra contributes more than 14 per cent to the country's GDP, Radhakrishnan said in his speech.

In 2023-24, Maharashtra topped in the country in FDI with Rs 1,25,101 crore investment, and has again topped in the country in the first two quarters, from April to September of the year 2024-25 with FDI of Rs 1,13,236 crore, which is more than 90 per cent of last year's total FDI, he said.

The government has set a very ambitious target of making Maharashtra the first state to achieve the target of becoming a USD one trillion economy by the year 2027-28, the Governor emphasised.

The state government has announced a policy of giving anchor industry status to mega projects and hi-tech manufacturing sector like semiconductors, electric vehicles, aerospace and defence, chemicals and polymers, lithium ion batteries, steel and other products, the Governor noted.

Projects approved in the last eight months under this policy will attract a total investment of Rs 3.29 lakh crore and generate direct and indirect employment for 1,18,000 people, he told the legislature.

The government is implementing the Ladki Bahin Yojana for empowerment of women in the age group of 21 to 65 years. An amount of Rs 1,500 per month is being given to more than 2.34 crore women under this scheme and five monthly instalments from July to November, 2024 have been paid, the Governor said.

This scheme will continue, he insisted.

Radhakrishnan said the government has commenced the recruitment process to fill 1.53 lakh vacant posts to enhance employment opportunities for the youth.

He informed the legislature that 1,19,700 candidates have joined for training under the Yuva Karya Prashikshan Yojana, started to provide skilled manpower to industries and promote skills among the youth.