Ending month-long impasse, Maharashtra MLAs take oath in assembly

A special session of the 14th Maharashtra legislative assembly commenced today to administer oath to the newly-elected members. In an apparent breaking of the ice, NCP MP Supriya Sule greeted cousin and party MLA Ajit Pawar—who had defected and aligned with the BJP, before resigning yesterday—by hugging him and touching his feet. "This day comes with a big responsibility," she told reporters.

Soon after Ajit Pawar resigned as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut claimed that the rebel NCP leader was back in the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP alliance. "Ajit dada has resigned and he is with us. Uddhav Thackeray will be the chief minister of Maharashtra for five years," Raut said.

In the House, pro-tem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar announced Babanrao Pachpute, Vijaykumar Gavit and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil as the presiding officers for administering oath of the members. An eight-time MLA from Wadala, Kolambkar was one of the candidates recommended for the post to the governor. NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Congress leaders and former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj and former speakers Dilip Walse Patil (NCP) and Haribhau Bagade (BJP) were among the members to take oath the earliest.

Presiding officers Pachpute and Gavit were the first to take oath followed by caretaker chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Ajit Pawar was greeted with thumping of desks from NCP members when he went to the podium to take oath. Newly-elected Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray was congratulated by members cutting across party lines. The 29-year-old son of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray went up to all senior members to greet them. 

The newly-elected members could not take oath earlier even one month after the results of the Assembly polls were announced due to dramatic political developments in the state. The state remained under President's rule for 13 days between November 12 and 23 after no political party was able to form a government.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Koshyari to appoint a pro-tem speaker and ensure all elected members of the House are sworn in on Wednesday itself by 5pm. A floor test, which would have be done through an open ballot, would have ascertained whether Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis enjoyed majority, as the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress put up a public show of strength to claim they have the numbers to form a new government. 

However, the BJP-led government, which was formed with the support of NCP leader Ajit Pawar on November 23, collapsed on Tuesday afternoon, after Pawar stepped down as deputy chief minister and Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister. The 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' comprising the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress, on Monday submitted a letter claiming support of 162 MLAs to the governor.

The NCP has announced that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray would be the next chief minister of Maharashtra. He will be sworn in CM on Thursday evening at Shivaji Park in Dadar, the place where his party holds traditional Dussehra rally each year.

Thackeray thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying he had never dreamed of leading the state.

"I had never dreamed of leading the state. I would like to thank Sonia Gandhi and others. We are giving a new direction to country by keeping faith on each other," Uddhav said at a joint meeting of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress at Hotel Trident in Mumbai.

At the meeting, Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil proposed Uddhav's name as "the (next) chief minister". State Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat seconded the proposal.

Uddhav will be the first from the Thackeray family to assume a government post. His father late Bal Thackeray wielded the 'remote control' over the first Sena-BJP combine government during 1995-99 but never assumed a position in the government.

-Inputs from PTI