Maharashtra Pawar game on: Sena, NCP, Congress keen to safeguard MLAs amid poaching fears

MUMBAI: BJP is set to argue in the Supreme Court on Monday that it was rightly invited to form the government in Maharashtra as it had the majority after the Nationalist Congress Party extended support to it, party insiders said.

They said the party in its letter to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had claimed that it had the support of 105 MLAs of BJP, plus 54 members of NCP and 14 Independents, totalling 173.

BJP’s argument is that Ajit Pawar, who as the head of NCP’s legislative party, had submitted a list to the governor showing the support of 54 MLAs.

Ajit Pawar, in his reply to the Supreme Court notice, would say that as the NCP’s elected head of legislative party, he had the right to declare its support to BJP, BJP insiders said.

NCP has alleged that the signatures of its MLAs on the list that Ajit Pawar submitted to the governor were not meant to show support to BJP and that he had “misguided” the governor by submitting it. NCP claimed that it wanted to support Shiv Sena.

While NCP has publicly said that Ajit Pawar had not followed the party’s position and had fraudulently given the list of the MLAs to the governor, it has not taken any disciplinary action against him — apart from removing him as the legislative party head. He is likely to question his sacking as the legislative party head, claiming it was not done as per procedure.