Maharashtra: Devendra Fadnavis resigned as Chief Ministers 80 hours after he took oath.
The Maharashtra Governor behaved in an "unprecedented and reprehensible manner" by inviting the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis and the NCP's Ajit Pawar to take oath in a surprise event last week, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said today. Her attack comes hours before Uddhav Thackeray takes oath as the Chief Minister of a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine in Maharashtra.
"There is no doubt that he (Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari) acted under the instructions of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. The BJP's pre-poll alliance did not hold because of its own arrogance and over-confidence," Mrs Gandhi said at a meeting of Congress MPs in Parliament House.
"Every effort was made to blatantly sabotage the three-party alliance government formation, but we appealed to the Supreme Court and the (Narendra) Modi-(Amit) Shah government was totally exposed. Let me assure you, we three parties are united in our resolve to defeat the BJP's sordid manipulations," she said.
The Shiv Sena's Aaditya Thackeray met Sonia Gandhi to invite her for his father's swearing-in.
Sonia Gandhi also attacked the government over the state of the economy and said the government is "bankrupt" of decency. "There is worsening distress among farmers, traders and small and medium businesses... Instead of tackling the problem, the (Narendra) Modi-(Amit) Shah government is busy fudging statistics or, indeed, not publishing them at all!"
Uddhav Thackeray will take oath at a grand event in Mumbai's sprawling Shivaji Park this evening. Mrs Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won't be attending event though Mr Thackeray's Aaditya met Mrs Gandhi and Dr Singh separately in Delhi to invite them.
The senior Thackeray, meanwhile, called up PM Modi and invited him to his oath ceremony late Wednesday evening.
Mr Thackeray will get just one deputy, from Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the alliance has decided. The assembly Speaker's post will go to the Congress and the Deputy Speaker will be from the NCP.
Along with Mr Thackeray, six ministers - two from each of the parties of th Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance - are likely to be sworn at the grand event.
(With inputs from PTI)