Don't trust BJP, won't support them during trust vote, says Sena

As the Bharatiya Janata Party seeks the trust vote on the floor of the Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday, the Shiv Sena has announced that it will not vote in favour of the BJP’s minority government.

“We will not vote in favour of the BJP,” said the Sena's Ramdas Kadam on Wednesday morning, adding that they were withdrawing their candidate’s name from the Speaker’s post.

Kadam added that they had been trying to sort the issues out with their former ally, the BJP, for the last one month, but that the BJP was refusing to budge and things were not going anywhere.

He further stated that party chief Uddhav Thackeray did not trust the BJP and had asked its members to do the same.

The Devendra Fadnavis government will be proving its majority on the floor of the House on Wednesday. The BJP 122 seats and its ally Rashtriya Samaj Paksha has got one seat in the Maharashtra assembly. The party needs 22 more seats to be able to prove its majority.

Former ally Shiv Sena won 63 seats in the 288-member assembly. The BJP has claimed the support of 138 MLAs including independents and smaller parties.

The Nationalist Congress Party has already offered unconditional outside support to the BJP but has not yet clarified whether it will abstain from voting during the trust vote or not.

Sena, Congress withdraw names for Speaker’s post

Meanwhile, BJP legislator Haribhau Bagde is set to be elected unopposed as Speaker of Maharashtra assembly after the Sena and Congress candidates on Wednesday withdrew their nominations. Congress candidate Varsha Gaikwad withdrew her nomination for the Speaker’s post after former ally Nationalist Congress Party declined to support her, party sources said.

Gaikwad had earlier met NCP chief Sharad Pawar to seek support for her candidature. Even state Congress president Manikrao Thakre had spoken to his NCP counterpart Sunil Tatkare seeking support for Gaikwad.

On Sena’s withdrawal of their nominee, senior party leader Ramdas Kadam said, “Sena chief Uddhavji has decided to support BJP candidate Haribhau Bagde for the Speaker's post. Following Uddhavji’s decision, we withdrew our candidate Vijay Auti.”