The BJP-Eknath Shinde camp has crossed the majority mark, getting over 144 votes in the Maharashtra Assembly floor test on Monday.
The trust vote comes a day after the BJP-Eknath Shinde faction government’s candidate Rahul Narwekar was elected as Assembly Speaker. During the trust vote, 164 votes were polled in favour of Shinde, while the Opposition camp got 99 votes.
Narwekar reinstated Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as Shiv Sena legislature party leader, removing Ajay Chaudhary. Narwekar also recognised the appointment of Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde camp as the chief whip of the Sena, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Thackeray faction.
Congratulating CM Eknath Shinde on winning the floor test, Devendra Fadnavis said in an address to the Assembly that Shinde is a loyal Shiv Sainik. “He is loyal to Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology,” he said.
The developments came days after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as chief minister in a Facebook live broadcast on Wednesday night, minutes after Supreme Court asked him to take a floor test on Thursday to prove his majority.
Thackeray had been running a coalition government with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress parties since 2019.
Congress and NCP have alleged that central agencies are being used to pressurise the MLAs of Shiv Sena. Bharatiya Janata Party is abusing the central machinery to harass the governments led by non-BJP parties, they alleged.
