Uddhav Thackeray-led government likely to face floor test tomorrow

Mumbai, Nov 29: The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance led by Uddhav Thackeray is likely to face floor test in the Assembly on Saturday. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government government has convened a special session of the assembly for its floor test tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra governor has appointed senior NCP legislator Dilip Walse Patil as protem speaker in the place of Kalidas Kolambkar. Dilip Walse-Patil is from Ambegaon, Maharashtra, and a six-time Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

The floor test is "most likey" to be held on Saturday, the Vidhan Bhawan sources told PTI.

While staking claim to form government in Maharashtra has claimed support of of 166 MLAs. Udhav Thackeray was given time until December 3 by the Governor of Maharashtra B S Koshyari to prove his majority.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis slammed Aghadi, alleging it preferred discussing proving majority in its first cabinet meet rather than giving relief to farmers, and asked why it then claims to have numbers.

"The new government preferred discussing discretely how to prove majority than giving help to farmers who are in trouble in the first cabinet meeting. "Why make claims of having numbers then?" Fadnavis asked on Twitter.

He wondered why is the Sena-led government allegedly trying to convene Assembly session (to prove numbers) "discretely" in case it has majority.

Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena president, was sworn-in as the chief minister on Thursday evening and hours later, presided over his government's first cabinet meeting.

Besides Thackeray, six other ministers - two each from the Sena, the Congress and the NCP - also took oath.

In the 288 member assembly, the Shiv Sena has 56 MLAs, while the NCP and Congress have 54 and 44 respectively. The BJP is the single largest party with 105 seats.