Mumbai: Following Supreme Court orders for floor test on 27th November, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called a meeting of all its legislators at a sports club in Mumbai around 9 pm on Tuesday.
Union minister and senior BJP leader Rao Saheb Danve said, “BJP held its core group meeting after the Supreme Court verdict. We decided that we will call all our MLAs at Garware Club tonight at 9 pm.”
The Supreme Court bench also ordered that the trust vote be telecast live and prohibited the Maharashtra Assembly from opting for a secret ballot. The vote will be conducted by a pro-tem (temporary) speaker.
“If the floor test is delayed, there is a possibility of horse trading, it becomes incumbent upon the Court to act to protect democratic values. An immediate floor test, in such a case, might be the most effective mechanism to do so,” ruled the top court bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna.
Soon after the court verdict on Tuesday, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at his residence Varsha.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil and Sunil Tatkare had met Ajit Pawar in the morning and requested him to resign as deputy CM and come back to the party fold.