Amid BJP boycott and Ajit Pawar's vote, Thackeray govt sails through

The Maha Vikas Aghadi led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday decisively won the vote of confidence securing 169 votes, considerably higher than the minimum of 145 required in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.

Against the ruling alliance's 169, four members abstained while there were zero against the trust resolution as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party with 105 MLAs and other supporters boycotted the proceedings, and staged a walkout.

The break-up comes to 169 MLAs for the MVA government, four abstentions, and 155 including the BJP's 105 and its supporters who walked out of the House before the voting.

Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar – the newphew of NCP President Sharad Pawar also voted at No. 6 in favour of the Thackeray government, as also his nephew Rohit Pawar, and Thackeray's son Aditya Thackeray.

Ajit Pawar had suddenly allied with the BJP's former CM Devendra Fadnavis and was sworn in as Deputy CM in an early morning ceremony on November 23, stunning the nation. However, that shortlived government collapsed in barely 80 hours.

Earlier, the resolution seeking the House confidence in the Thackeray government was moved by Congress' Ashok Chavan, Nationalist Congress Party's Nawab Malik and Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu.

The resolution seeking the House confidence in the Thackeray government was moved by Congress' Ashok Chavan, Nationalist Congress Party's Nawab Malik and Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu.

After winning the vote, Thackeray expressed his gratitude to the House for reposing confidence in his government and said it would get down to work in right earnest.

The Sena-NCP-Congress leaders attacked the opposition for creating hurdles in the House proceedings and said that the ruling alliance's claim of 169 MLAs support was proved correct in the floor test today.

The trust vote came after a stormy start to the 2-day special Assembly session called specifically for the floor test and the election of Speaker.

Adopting an aggressive stance, the Oppositon BJP led by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis boycotted the special Assembly session contending that the proceedings contravened the statute and Supreme Court orders.

He said the ruling Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress removed the earlier pro tem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar and appointed another pro tem Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil in his place, contravening parliamentary rules and regulations.

Fadnavis also took objections to the manner of the oath-taking ceremony held at Shivaji Park on November 28, saying it was not done as per the format, since the names of various past and present national leaders/heroes were invoked.

However, the pro tem Speaker Walse-Patil rejected the contentions saying the special session was as per the directives of the Governor B.S. Koshyari and in accordance with the Supreme Court orders.- IANS