Most of ‘rebel’ MLAs return to Sharad Pawar; Cong-NCP-Sena plead SC for early floor test

As BJP tried to pull a midnight coup in Maharashtra by lifting President’s Rule and swearing in Devendra Fadnavis, the tables turned by the evening as all NCP MLAs returned to Sharad Pawar’s fold

NCP chief Sharad Pawar chairing the meet of party MLAs at YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai on Saturday, Nov 23, 2019. More than 45 of the party’s 54 MLAs reportedly turned up at the meeting.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar chairing the meet of party MLAs at YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai on Saturday, Nov 23, 2019. More than 45 of the party’s 54 MLAs reportedly turned up at the meeting.
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NH Web Desk

The BJP on Saturday appeared to be defeated in its game of engineering a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar in order to muster the numbers in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly as almost all the ‘rebel’ NCP MLAs barring four or five returned to party president Sharad Pawar’s fold by the evening.

The BJP’s “midnight coup” in which it lifted the President’s Rule through special executive powers of the Prime Minister (thereby circumventing the Union Cabinet’s approval) and the state Governor administered oath of office of chief minister to Devendra Fandnavis and that of deputy chief minister to Ajit Pawar in a hush hush early morning ceremony, was virtually turned on its head by the evening.

The swearing in ceremony came hours after Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray emerged as the Sena-NCP-Congress' consensus candidate for the top post.

President Ram Nath Kovind signed the proclamation for revocation of the central rule and a gazette notification to this effect was issued at 5.47 am.

The Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena also filed a petition in the Supreme Court in the evening seeking quashing of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to swear-in Fadnavis without verifying their claims of support from sufficient number of MLAs.

They are seeking an immediate floor test to avoid "further horse trading"

as the Governor has reportedly given the BJP time till November 30 to prove its majority in the House.

The three parties also sought a direction to the Governor to invite them to form government under the leadership of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray saying they have the support of more than 144 MLAs.

The petitioners alleged that the governor has acted in a "partisan manner" and has allowed himself to be a "pawn in the BJP's illegal usurpation of power".

The parties further prayed for an "immediate floor test within 24 hours so as to avoid further horse trading and illegal manoeuvres to somehow cobble up a majority from the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi)".

The case has been listed to be heard by the apex court on Sunday at 11.30 am.

After the meeting of the NCP legislators at Y.B. Chavan Centre in Mumbai on Saturday evening, in which Sharad Pawar spoke with the MLAs, party spokesperson Nawab Malik told the media that all the MLAs present at the meeting have unanimously vouched their support to Sharad Pawar.

Ajit Pawar, he said, has been ousted from the party. Ajit is Sharad Pawar’s nephew.

"The government has been given time till November 30. We will defeat them in the Speaker's election. We are sure the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP will form the government," Malik said, adding the NCP MLAs will stay in Mumbai.


The Opposition reacted bitterly to the developments in Maharashtra where the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as the chief minister by the state Governor early Saturday morning, the day NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena combine was supposed to stake claim to form the government. The three parties had already announced their intent a day before.

Various Opposition leaders expressed their dismay and shock at the way the President’s Rule was lifted from the state at 5:47 am with Prime Minister invoking his special executive powers to circumvent Cabinet approval for the same and all democratic procedures were thrown out of the window to swear-in BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.

Fadnavis claimed to have had the support of 175 MLAs, including those of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Congress termed it as a “betrayal” by the BJP with the Maharashtra voters while the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) termed it as a “early morning coup” lashed out at the BJP saying its political immorality has “reached its nadir”.

“The BJP had promised to send Ajit Pawar to Arthur Road jail in an alleged Rs 72,000 crore irrigation scam. Instead the BJP has sent him to the ministry now.

If it is not the betrayal with the Maharshtra’s voters, what is?” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

He said that it is for the first time in the history of Independent India that “having torn the Constitution apart in the dark of night”, a chief minister was clandestinely administered the oath of office in the wee hours.

“The Maharashtra Governor has not acted as the guardian of the Constitution but as a hitman of (Union Home Minister and BJP chief) Amit Shah,” Surjewala said.

He termed the entire process as “loktantra ka cheer haran” (disrobing of the democratic values), alluding to an episode in Mahabharata in which Kauravas tried to publicly disrobe queen Draupadi.

The CPI-M termed the development as “sordid manipulation” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for grabbing power in the state.

“The political immorality of the BJP has reached its nadir. The clandestine manner in which the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra have been sworn in shows the extent to which the BJP can stoop to grab power. This is in line with what they have done earlier in Goa, Karnataka, north eastern states etc,” the Left party said in a statement.

“It is unfortunate that both the Constitutional authorities – President’s office and the Governor’s office – have been misused to achieve their political purpose,” it added.

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took to Twitter to take a dig at the developments in Maharashtra.

"Abki baar - chori chhipe Sarkar (This time, a clandestine government)," he wrote, playing on the BJP’s popular election slogan “Abki baar, Modi Sarkar”.

The BJP and the Sena, which fought the assembly polls in an alliance, had secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively in the 288-member House. The Sena broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister's post.

The Congress and the NCP, pre-poll allies, won 44 and 54 seats respectively.

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