Uddhav Thackeray government passes floor test, BJP stages walkout

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government won its trust vote on the floor of the state Assembly on Saturday with the support of 169 legislators

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government won its trust vote on the floor of the state Assembly on Saturday with the support of 169 legislators in the 288-member House. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has 105 members of the legislative Assembly (MLAs), and its smaller allies staged a walkout, raising objections over the way in which the session was convened. Four MLAs — two from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and one each from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) — abstained from voting.

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Saturday’s floor test, which was conducted by Pro-tem Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil, was significant for the MVA government against the backdrop of an unlikely alliance forged by the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress. The three parties came together as Sena snapped ties with its three-decade-old ally, BJP, after differences over sharing the chief minister’s post.

Thackeray was sworn-in as CM, along with six other ministers, on Thursday, more than a month after the election results were declared on October 24. In between, BJP made an unsuccessful attempt to split NCP and got Devendra Fadnavis sworn-in as CM with senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

However, both had to quit within three days, after the Supreme Court ordered a floor test, and the Sena, NCP and Congress showed that they had support of 162 MLAs.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had asked the MVA government to prove its majority till December 3, after which a two-day special session of the House was called.

The MVA government got 169 votes, 24 more than the simple majority mark of 145 in the Assembly. It got 16 votes more than the combined strength of three parties – Sena (56), NCP (54) and Congress (44). The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (3), Prahar Janashakti Paksha (2), Swabhimani Paksha (1), Peasants and Workers Party (1), Samajwadi Party (2), Krantikari Shetkari Sanghatana (1) and six Independents voted for the MVA government. Walse-Patil, who was elected as a NCP MLA, could not vote as he was the Pro-tem Speaker.

Uddhav Thackeray and senior minister Subhash Desai, too, could not participate in the voting as they are not members of the Assembly.

The BJP (105), along with its smaller allies – Jansurajya Shakti (1), Rashtriya Samaj Party (1) – and seven Independents staged a walkout during the floor test claiming it to be “unconstitutional”.

Four MLAs abstained from voting, even though they attended the House proceedings during the floor test.

BJP’s legislative party leader Devendra Fadnavis raised a strong objection against the way “business was being transacted in violation of the constitutional provisions”. “Since the national song was played after the last session, on November 27, meaning it ended sine die, today’s session is invalid; it was conveyed without issuing a fresh summons,” he said.

Fadnavis also raised an objection over replacing the Pro-tem Speaker appointed for the meeting of the session on November 27. He said the swearing in of Thackeray and his six ministers, too, was “invalid” as the ministers invoked the names of leaders like Bal Thackeray, Sonia Gandhi while taking their oath.

Pro-tem Speaker Walse-Patil, however, ruled out the objections over his appointment and the way in which the session was convened, saying it was the prerogative of the government and the Governor. “Swearing-in of the cabinet had happened outside the House and it cannot be discussed in the House,” said Walse-Patil, adding that the trust vote was being conducted by division as per the Supreme Court direction given in a case challenging the formation of the earlier government.

Thackeray said invoking names of personalities like Chhatrapati Shivaji, Dr BR Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule “was not a crime” and he would “take their names again and again”.

Meanwhile, Thackeray, who was attending an Assembly session for the first time, greeted Opposition leaders by walking up to their benches before taking his seat. He hugged Fadnavis and shook hands with BJP’s Chandrakant Patil.

The MVA, by changing the customary sequence of proceedings of the first House session of the newly elected government, held the floor test before the election of the Speaker.

The three-party government adopted a cautious approach to prevent any risk of split in its votes during the election of the Speaker as it is held by secret ballot.

A split would have proved to be a major embarrassment for the government had the Speaker’s election been held before the floor test.

The MVA government will now elect the Assembly Speaker on Sunday, for which Congress’s Nana Patole and BJP’s Kisan Kathore are the candidates.