Supreme Court seeks governor’s letters inviting BJP to form govt in Maharashtra

The political drama in
Maharashtra continues even as the government formation in the state has come
under Supreme Court’s scrutiny.

The Apex Court yesterday asked
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, to place before it by 10.30 this morning the
Governor’s letters recommending revocation of President’s Rule and inviting
Devendra Fadnavis to form government in Maharashtra. A bench of Justices N V
Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna in an unprecedented special hearing on
Sunday rejected the three party combine plea seeking to direct the floor test
within 24 hours. The court said this issue would be dealt with only after
perusing the two letters.

Meanwhile, hectic political
activities continued till late last night in Mumbai. Shiv Sena, NCP and
Congress parties are getting fully ready in case of Supreme Court directing for
floor test. NCP leader and newly sworn deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his official residence in Mumbai. It is
also learnt that many of the NCP MLAs who had defected with Ajit Pawar, are
returning to party fold and declaring their support to NCP.

Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena
chief Uddhav Thackeray held a series of meetings with their MLAs to reassure
them of their prospects, BJP leader and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met
his party’s MLAs to finalise their strategy for the impending floor test.

Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are not ready to take any risk and have become cautious to keep their numbers intact till the floor test. NCP shifted their MLA’s to a different hotel from their earlier hotel. Even Shiv Sena followed its new ally to play safe and shifted its MLAs to a new place. On the other hand NCP leader and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar met Devendra Fadnavis at his residence Varsha in Mumbai late in the night. However Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said they discussed the agrarian crisis during the meeting. Today will be the crucial day in Maharashtra politics and all eyes will be there on the political strategies in Mumbai.

The BJP, which emerged the
largest party in the October 21 Assembly polls with 105 seats, claims to have
the support of 14 MLAs, taking its tally effectively to 119. The Shiv Sena,
which is in talks with the Congress-NCP to form a government, claims to have
the support of seven MLAs apart from its own flock of 56. It is not certain how
many MLAs, if any, are backing NCP leader Ajit Pawar who joined hands with the
BJP on Saturday.