BJP’S MAHA PLAN UNRAVELS

FADNAVIS RESIGNS CM quits hours after Ajit Pawar aborts breakaway bid UDDHAV NEXT CM Sena chief picked to lead coalition, swearing in on Nov 28 TURNING POINT SC order to advance floor test gives Oppn camp upper hand

MUMBAI/NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Maharashtra collapsed on Tuesday as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis admitted his administration didn’t command a majority and resigned, capping 80 dramatic hours in which dissident Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar broke ranks and took oath as deputy CM, only to find himself unable to muster the required support.

The fall of the four-day-old government came hours after the Supreme Court ordered a floor test by 5pm on Wednesday, and paved the way for an Opposition coalition of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress — the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi — stake claim to power.

“I want to thank Sonia ji and others... parties with different ideologies have come together... those who were friends for 30 years, did not trust us. But those against whom we fought for 30 years have trusted me,” said Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, soon after being chosen as the leader of the three-party alliance.

He was flanked by NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress state chief Balasaheb Thorat, who was elected as the party’s legislative chief.

Pawar said the government will be sworn in on November 28 at 6.40pm in Shivaji Park as party workers outside shouted slogans hailing him as the only “tiger” in Maharashtra. “It would have been great had Balasaheb Thackeray been alive today. We shared great love. We criticised each other a lot, but we never let go off the personal warmth,” he said.

Representatives from the alliance and Thackeray met governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and staked claim late on Tuesday. Koshyari gave Thackeray a letter informing him that he had been appointed as chief minister and that the Aghadi claimed the support of 166 MLAs. This is comfortably above the halfway mark of 145 in the 288-member assembly.

The governor also said Thackeray, who is not a member of either House in the state, will have to get elected to either one House within six months of taking oath.

“This is an alliance of parties with divergent ideologies. This will give a new direction to the whole country... I never dreamed of leading the state,” Thackeray said to thunderous applause. “I will soon go to meet ‘Mota Bhai’ (elder brother) in New Delhi,” he added, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

THE AGHADI SAYS IT HAS THE SUPPORT OF 166 MLAS, WELL ABOVE THE HALFWAY MARK OF 145