Maharashtra Government Floor Test Live News Updates: Nationalist Congress Party's Ajit Pawar on Monday, 4 July, was elected as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Maharashtra Assembly.
Earlier in the day, the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government proved majority in the Assembly floor test and crossed the midway mark (144) after getting 164 votes in their favour.
A total of 99 votes were cast it.
After the floor test, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis congratulated Shinde and said, "I've come back today and brought him (Eknath Shinde) along with me. I won't take revenge on people who mocked me. I'll forgive them, everything isn't taken to heart in politics."
Meanwhile, Bharat Gogawale, newly appointed chief whip of Shiv Sena, from the rebel faction, on Monday, gave a petition to the Assembly Speaker for the suspension of 16 MLAs of the party (from the Uddhav Thackeray faction) for violation of the whip.
In a blow to the Thackeray camp, a day before the crucial trust vote, speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, Rahul Narvekar had removed Shiv Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhary as the legislative party leader.
A letter issued by the speaker’s office reinstated the new Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the Shiv Sena's legislative party leader and also recognised the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip of the Sena, removing Sunil Prabhu on Sunday
The trust vote was held in the Assembly, the last day of the special two-day session of the House
Several MLAs of Shiv Sena, including Aaditya Thackeray, left the House after the trust vote
Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said on Sunday night that since 39 of their MLAs did not obey the party whip, their disqualification has been sought from the new Assembly speaker
However, with the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip, the Thackeray faction comprising 16 MLAs will be bound by the whip to be issued by Gogawale for the trust vote
BJP MLA Rahul Narvekar was elected as speaker in the Maharashtra Assembly on Sunday. He was elected with 164 votes
Thackeray had expelled Shinde from the Sena on Saturday
While Shiva Sena has 55 MLAs, the Shinde camp has 39 MLAs whereas the Thackeray group has 16 MLAs. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party has 53 MLAs; Congress has 44, and the BJP has 106 members in the Legislative Assembly.
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'Have Given Notice To Disqualify MLAs Who Defied Whip, Except Aaditya': Sena Leader
"We have given notices to disqualify all the MLAs who defied our whip; have not given his (Aaditya Thackeray's) name due to our respect for Balasaheb Thackeray," Shiv Sena chief whip Bharat Gogawale was quoted as saying.
Will Support Droupadi Murmu in Presidential Polls: Shinde
Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde said, "All MLAs who voted in our favour today will support Droupadi Murmu in Presidential polls... Sharad Pawar is a big leader, but whatever he says is just the opposite of facts. So we will complete 2.5 years of governance; next time, we'll have 200 MLAs, 100 ours and 100 BJP MLAs."
‘Will Take Decisions in the Interest of Maharashtra’: Shinde
In a press conference with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde said, "This government is of people's mandate which couldn't be formed 2.5 years back due to some reasons. We have today 50 (Shiv Sena) and 115 (BJP) MLAs, and we will take decisions in the interest of the people of Maharashtra."
He added, "I've seen Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis' decision-making speed in the previous government. He gets the pending work completed. In this government government as well, we will try to get all pending projects completed as soon as possible, be it the metro project or Samruddhi Mahamarg."
Additionally, Shinde announced that Maharashtra government will reduce VAT on fuel. Speaking about Cabinet expansion, Shinde said, "We'll see about the cabinet expansion. They (Uddhav Thackeray camp) are regularly going to courts and even today, they went to the Supreme Court. Bharat Gogawale is our whip and I'm the legislative party leader. Action will be taken against those who violated our whip."
NCP's Ajit Pawar Elected Leader of Opposition
Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Ajit Pawar will be the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Maharashtra Assembly. NCP Legislative party leader Jayant Patil had proposed Ajit Pawar's name for Opposition leader which was approved by the Assembly, as per the Principal Secretary.