The Supreme Court will on Sunday hear a joint plea of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress against the decision of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, inviting BJP's Devendra Fadnavis to form the government in the state on November 23. Ahead of the hearing, the Shiv Sena in an editorial on its mouthpiece, Saamana's website has called November 23 as a 'Black Day' of Maharashtra politics.
Saamana went on to call it as 'Shameless politics'. In what can be termed as a surprising development, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the second consecutive term while NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. In Saamana, Shiv Sena has said, "This is politics of shamelessness... Sharad Pawar has been betrayed".
Ajit Pawar was soon removed as the NCP legislature party leader. Sharad Pawar said the decision to side with Fadnavis was his nephew's personal choice and not that of the party.
Reacting to his sacking, Shiv Sena has said, "12 ghante mein Ajit Pawar ke baje baara (Ajit Pawar has been destroyed in 12 hours)". "Ajit Pawar's wings have been cut off," Shiv Sena said. Shiv Sena has also called the turn of events a "farzikal strike".
NCP's Ajit Pawar joining hands with BJP to form a government came as a big jolt to the efforts by Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena to form an alliance to bereft BJP of power corridors.
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". A bench of justices N V Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna will hear the plea on Sunday at 11:30 am.
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". The parties further prayed for an "immediate floor test within 24 hours so as to avoid further horse trading and illegal maneuvers to somehow cobble up a majority from the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi)".
