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.