SC to consider Sena, NCP, Congress plea against Maharashtra governor's decision today

Mumbai/New Delhi: The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine on Saturday night filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the Maharashtra governor's decision to swear-in BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister and demanded an immediate floor test to avoid "further horse trading".

The apex court will hear the plea on Sunday at 11:30am.

The three parties also sought a direction to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari 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 allowed himself to be a "pawn in the BJP's illegal usurpation of power".

In a stunning turn of events in Maharashtra, hours after Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance claimed that it would form a government with Uddhav Thackeray as its chief minister, the BJP outsmarted them by wooing Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP and making its leader Devendra Fadnavis chief minister.

Fadnavis was sworn in as CM by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at 8:00am on Saturday morning. NCP MLA and its chief Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar is the deputy chief minister. The swearing-in happened after the President's Rule was revoked at 5:47am.

According to sources, Ajit Pawar has broken away from his uncle Sharad Pawar. It is however, not known how many NCP MLAs are backing Ajit. The floor test for the newly formed government was announced for November 30.

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

Their lawyer Sunil Fernandes said the hearing is slated to commence at 11:30am, but the composition of the bench is not known.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday described his nephew Ajit Pawar's decision to join hands with the BJP an act of indiscipline, and said Ajit Pawar and other MLAs of the party who have switched sides would attract the provisions of the anti-defection law.

Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar said that they will stand together in a joint press meet held on Saturday.

Claiming that the new BJP-led dispensation would not pass the floor test, Sharad Pawar asserted that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine has the numbers and will form the government.

Pawar addressed a press conference with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray after the stunning developments of the morning.

The MLAs who have defected stand to lose the membership of the Assembly, and when byelections are held, the Congress-NCP-Sena alliance will ensure that they are defeated, the Pawar senior said.

"Their voters, too, would take an appropriate stand," he said.

Sharad Pawar said he was not aware if his nephew decided to support the BJP out of the fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Ajit Pawar is among those named in the multi-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case.

The governor's action in installing a "minority BJP" government is ex-facia illegal and unconstitutional, the petition, filed through advocate Fernandes, claimed, adding that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine has a "clear majority" in the 288-member state assembly and the BJP "clearly falls short of the halfway mark of 144".

Seeking quashing of the governor's decision inviting Fadnavis to form government, the plea said it is "unconstitutional, arbitrary and illegal", and violates Article 14 of the Constitution.

It said after comprehensive talks, the three parties finalised a common minimum programme for a post-poll alliance called MVA, and on November 22, it was announced that Uddhav Thackeray would be the alliance's chief ministerial candidate.

"Facing the prospect of a non-BJP government staking claim to power, the BJP on the intervening night of November 22 and 23 resorted to political machinations in an attempt to install a completely unconstitutional BJP government in the state," the plea said.

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine has also filed a separate application seeking direction for summoning of a special session of the assembly for swearing-in of MLAs and a floor test.

The application also sought direction for furnishing relevant records from the governor's office with regard to the invitation to Fadnavis to form government on Saturday, the satisfaction of the governor as to the support enjoyed by Fadnavis of a majority of MLAs in the assembly and his subsequent swearing in as the CM.

Video recording of the floor test and placing copies of the video before the court and appointing a pro-tem speaker to preside over the conduct of the floor test were also sought in the application.

Pawar said the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena, along with independents and smaller parties, have the support of 169 to 170 MLAs, and they were ready to form the government.

"Around 6:30am-6:45am, I got a call that some NCP legislators had been brought to Raj Bhavan. After some time, we came to know that Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister," he said.

Pawar said of the 10 to 11 NCP MLAs, who were present with Ajit Pawar at Raj Bhavan, three have returned to the party. "Two more are on the way," he said.

"From TV grabs and pictures, we have identified the legislators," he said.

Rajendra Shingne from Buldhana and Sandeep Kshirsagar from Beed, who were present at the press conference, said at 12am they got a call from Ajit Pawar, asking them to come to party leader Dhananjay Munde's residence at 7am.

They were then taken to Raj Bhavan, the two MLAs said.

"Before we realised what was happening, we saw Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar being administered oath by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari," they said.

Shingne said, "When I reached Raj Bhavan, I found 8 to 10 MLAs already there. None of us realised why we were brought there. After the swearing-in, we went to meet (Sharad) Pawar saheb," he said.

"All this happened because of some misunderstanding since Ajit Pawar had called us," he said.

Sunil Shelke, NCP MLA from Maval, reached the venue after the press conference ended.

"As the NCP legislature party leader, Ajit Pawar had the list of all the 54 MLAs with names, signatures and constituencies for internal party use. I presume he has submitted that list as a letter of support to the governor. If this is true, the governor has been misled," Sharad Pawar said.

To a question over the split in the party and his family, Pawar said, "I have been through this earlier as well. In 1980, I was successful in defeating all those who deserted me. Politics and family are different."

Uddhav Thackeray hit out at the BJP for accusing the Shiv Sena of disrespecting people's mandate.

"Whatever Shiv Sena does, is out in the front, done openly. Our politics is not "Ratris Khel Chale" (The Game Goes on at Night)," he said, referring to the title of a popular Marathi horror TV serial.

A few days before, Sharad Pawar had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fuelling rumours that NCP was planning to support BJP to form a government. However, those speculations were ruled out as Sharad Pawar announced immediately after the meeting that Udhav will be the new Maharashtra CM.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in a tweet. "I am confident they will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra," he tweeted.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by the Shiv Sena (56). The NCP won 54 seats and Congress had won 44 seats. Independents won 29 seats in the elections.

The pre-poll BJP-Shiv Sena alliance had split after the BJP failed to honour the 50:50 power sharing ratio agreed upon by the parties. The Sena had insisted on having a chief minister on rotational basis.