Devendra Fadnavis & Ajit Pawar quit ahead of floor test in Maharashtra

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis today resigned as the chief minister of Maharashtra within three days of being sworn in. This was following the Supreme Court ordering a floor test on Wednesday, November 27. Earlier today, Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, resigned as the deputy CM.

The court has said that a protem Speaker will hold the floor test. The voting should not be secret, and has to be videographed. The apex court directive has gone in favour of the anti-BJP allies who wanted a floor test immediately.

According to some reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah had discussed whether Fadnavis should face the floor test or quit. Since the floor test would have been tough for Fadnavis to clear, the party reportedly asked him to resign.

Significantly, Fadnavis told journalists, “Ajit Pawar gave me his resignation. BJP had decided that we would not indulge in horse-trading. We decided to form the government because NCP was with us. However, since he has resigned, I will also resign.”

Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister at 7.40 am on Saturday even as the Nationalist Congress Party along with the Congress and the Shiv Sena were at the final stages of forming the government. The NCP’s Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as deputy CM, following which the party chief Sharad Pawar distanced himself and said that it had happened without his consent. He also accused his nephew, Ajit Pawar to have cheated some NCP MLAs into attending the swearing-in ceremony.
In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP had won 105 seats, Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44. This made no single party eligible to form the government unless they went into an alliance. The Shiv Sena wanted a “50:50” formula, but the BJP did not agree with it. Eventually, the Sena-Congress-NCP had agreed to come together to form the government.
But in a dramatic turn of events, the BJP and Ajit Pawar took oath on Saturday morning – taking the matter to the apex court.

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