Devendra Fadnavis resigns citing lack of majority in assembly paving way for non -BJP coalition govt in Maharashtra : Pawar, Sonia prop up Uddhav Thackeray as CM

MAHARASHTRA VIKAS AGHADI comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress coalition government is set to form the Mahashtra government after Chef Minister Devendra Fadnavis preceded by Ajit Pawar resigned as Deputy Chief Minister on Tuesday, November 26. They were sworn in on Saturday last. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Babasaheb Thackeray, 59, will head the coalition government as Chief Minister. News 18 says citing sources, the swearing-in ceremony of the new Maharashtra government will be held on December 1 at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. Earlier, The Supreme Court of India directed the Governor to convene a special session of the state legislative assembly on November 27 for trust vote on petitions filed by the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress demanding the BJP Government headed by Fadnavis should prove its majority on the floor of the House.  Before leaving for submitting resignation to the Governor, Fadnavis said told media ‘’we never tried to break any party or were never involved in horse-trading of MLAs. The Congress-NCP-Sena alliance will pull in different directions. But, we don’t have the majority now, so have decided to work as an active opposition. We will be the voice of public,” Fadnavis said. Meanwhile, Governor Koshyari has appointed six -time BJP MLA Kalidas Kolambkar as pro-tem speaker. He will administer oath to the elected MLAs before a permanent speaker can be elected. In the  288 –Member state assembly, there is no political party which has won an absolute majority.Pre poll alliance  between  BJP and Shiv Sena has won an absolute  majority to form government for successive  second term but the alliance split  due to demand by the  Shiv  Sena for forming  government  on 50-50 formula and following  rejection on the demand by the BJP.   In the assembly the BJP is the largest party with 105 members followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and   INC 44, Protem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar has  announced that the first session of the Assembly elected after the 21 October,2019,elections would be held tomorrow. The newly elected MLA will be sworn in at 8 am onward. Protem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar who was sworn in by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari announced that the first session of the Assembly elected after the 21 October elections would be held at 8 am  tomorrow. The newly elected MLA will be sworn in at 8 am. Congress sources say that Babasaheb Thorat is the frontrunner for deputy chief minister post since he is one of the senior-most MLA in the assembly. The two former chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan are likely to be out of that race. NCP’s Jitendra Awhad is also in the race for the deputy chief minister post along with Jayant Patil. On Tuesday evening at a meeting of the three parties, Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde moved resolution to form ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’, the alliance of Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress. NCP’s Nawab Malik and Congress’s Nitin Raut second it. Resolution was passed unanimously (edited by PK Chakravarty).