Mumbai: Putting all speculations to rest, the Supreme Court today issued notices to the Centre and Maharashtra government on a petition filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Cong combine against the Maharashtra Governor’s decision to swear in Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister.
A bench of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna also issued notices to Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The bench also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to produce letters of the Governor tomorrow at 10.30am for passing orders.
The Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena today demanded that the BJP immediately face a floor test if it has the numbers, even as the parties accused Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari of bias and said the lifting of President’s Rule was “shrouded in mystery”.
Senior Congress leader and lawyer for Shiv Sena Kapil Sibal said he had not seen such things happen in Indian democracy.
“Governor advises and President’s Rule is revoked, no cabinet meeting was held. At 8am, the swearing-in happened. What are the facts and on what basis did the Governor decide is shrouded in mystery,” Sibal said.
Meanwhile, Rohit Pawar, grandnephew of Sharad Pawar and nephew of Ajit Pawar, writes an emotional post on Facebook, appealing the latter to return to the family.