Maharashtra LIVE: SC to hear Sena-Cong-NCP plea seeking floor test today

10:11 AM Devendra Fadnavis as CM: Supreme Court set to hear the petition today at 11.30 am

 10:05 AMDevendra Fadnavis back as Maharashtra CM as Ajit Pawar stuns NCP, Sena, Congress

devendra fadnavisMaharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari flanked by newly appointed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (left) and deputy CM Ajit Pawar, in Mumbai | Photo: PTI

The Supreme Court will on Sunday hear a petition filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine seeking quashing of the Maharashtra governor’s decision to swear in BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as the state's new chief minister.

The combine wants an immediate floor test to avoid “further horse trading”. It has appealed that the court ask Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to invite them to form a government under Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying they have the support of 144 legislators.

Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna are scheduled to hear the petition at 11:30 am, said Sunil Fernandes, a lawyer for the three parties.

My govt is strong, will work for farmers: Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

Back at the helm as Maharashtra chief minister following a dramatic turn of events, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the BJP will provide a strong government which will work for farmers.

Thanking BJP workers after taking oath as the CM early morning, Fadnavis said, "Modi hai to mumkin hai (Everything possible under leadership of PM Narendra Modi)".

In a surprise development, the BJP turned the tables on the prospective Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance by taking oath as the CM, after NCP's Ajit Pawar staged a early morning coup and joined hands with the BJP.

Ajit, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, took oath as deputy chief minister.

Fadnavis thanked Ajit, MLAs, and Independent legislators for their support.

"It is true that some friends are not with us anymore," he said apparently referring to the Shiv Sena, which fell out with the BJP after assembly poll results over its demand for a rotational chief ministership.

"Our commitment is to provide a strong government for the next five years. Our commitment is to the people of the state," Fadnavis said.

He thanked PM Modi, Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah and acting BJP president J P Nadda.

Ajit's coup came two days after Sharad Pawar said a consensus had emerged between his party and the Congress on Uddhav Thackeray as the next chief minister of the state.

Cong calls BJP-NCP alliance 'illegitimate', says it will 'self destruct'

The Congress hit out at Devendra Fadnavis being sworn-in as the Maharashtra chief minister on Saturday, saying it was a "betrayal of people's mandate" and the "illegitimate" government formation will self-destruct.

The month-long political impasse in Maharashtra ended dramatically on Saturday with the BJP's Fadnavis returning as the chief minister, backed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

NCP's Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as the deputy chief minister.

"This is called betrayal of people's mandate and giving contract for killing democracy," Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet.

He also tagged media reports on allegations of Ajit Pawar's involvement in scams.

"Lust for power washes away principles and corruption," Surjewala said on Twitter, tagging a September tweet of Fadnavis in which he had said the BJP will never ally with the NCP as it had "exposed" the latter's corruption.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who was at the forefront of the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena negotiations, said illegal and evil manoeuvres took place in the secrecy of midnight.

"Such was the shame that they had to do the swearing in hiding. This illegitimate formation will self destruct," he said in a tweet.

Earlier, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi expressed surprise at the political developments in Maharashtra and said the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena negotiations took too long as the window was grabbed by "fast movers".

"Surreal wht I read abt #Maharashtra. Thought it was fake news. Candidly &personally speaking, our tripartite negotiations shd not have gone on for more than 3 days...took too long. Window given was grabbed by fast movers. #pawarji tussi grt ho! Amazing if true, still not sure (sic)," he said in a tweet.

Subsequently, in another tweet, Singhvi said, "My tweet at 845 am today while in a taking off flight to ahmdabad has, hopefully, been overtaken by events in view of #Sharadji's clarification. Even then I had called it surreal &possibly fake news. Appears that fakeness of full #NCP joining bjp is true as per #Pawar clarfn (sic).