Two days after it came to power following a month-long political drama in Maharashtra, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance will face a floor test in the Assembly on Saturday.
The government is expected to have smooth sailing in the floor test, a Vidhan Bhawan official told PTI.
Sanjay Raut, the Sena MP and Saamna editor-in-chief, has claimed that Uddhav government enjoys the support of 170 MLAs.
A two-day sitting of the Assembly will begin Saturday. The trust vote will be taken up on day one, preceded by the introduction of the new ministers in the House.
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Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Chandrakant Patil said the "Maha Vikas Aghadi" had changed the protem speaker illegaly. "The oath was also not taken as per rules," he said, adding the new government was violating all the rules.
"We are filing a petition with the Governor and might also approach Supreme Court."
On Sunday, the Assembly Speaker's election will be held, followed by tabling of motion of thanks on the governor's address in the House.
The new Speaker will then announce the name of the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
Governor B S Koshyari has asked Thackeray to prove majority by December 3.
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The ruling combine has claimed support of 162 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly.
The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed the government after the Thackeray-led party fell out with pre-poll ally BJP over sharing the chief ministerial post.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party winning 105 seats. The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress won 56, 54 and 44 seats respectively in the October 21 polls.
NCP MLA Dilip Walse Patil was on Friday appointed as pro tem speaker of the Assembly. He replaces BJP MLA Kalidas Kolambkar who was earlier this week appointed to the post.
Walse Patil is a former speaker of the Assembly.
Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena president, was sworn-in as the chief minister on Thursday evening and hours later, presided over his government's first cabinet meeting.
Besides Thackeray, six other ministers - two each fro the Sena, the Congress and the NCP - also took oath.
(With inputs from PTI)
