Maharashtra: Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as Maharashtra Chief Minister on Thursday.
Uddhav Thackeray, who took oath as Chief Minister on Thursday evening after a week of political whirlwind in Maharashtra, will face a floor test in the assembly at 2 pm today . NCP MLA Dilip Walse Patil will be the pro-tem or temporary Speaker for the special session of the Maharashtra Assembly which will be convened today.
The Shiv Sena chief had been asked by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to prove his majority by next Tuesday.
Uddhav Thackeray heads an alliance of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, also called Maha Vikas Aghadi. Together, the three parties have 154 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly, nine more than the majority mark. They also have the support of some Independents, taking their strength to 165.
The Sena had emerged the second largest party in last month's Maharashtra election with 56 seats; its then ally BJP was the largest party with 105 seats. Though the 30-year-old allies had majority to form government, the Sena ended the alliance over power sharing. The Shiv Sena had insisted on rotational chief ministership, which the BJP rejected.
Uddhav Thackeray then aligned with the NCP and the Congress, two ideologically different parties from his.
When they were on the verge of sealing an alliance, the BJP surprised them with an unscheduled dawn oath-taking of Devendra Fadnavis last Saturday, for which the central government was active through the night. Ajit Pawar, who took oath as Deputy Chief Minister, declared that all NCP MLAs were with him. Over the next few days, the NCP rallied its flock and managed to isolate "Ajit-Dada".
Mr Fadnavis quit on Tuesday, hours after he was asked to prove his majority in a floor test "within 24 hours".
The BJP, 40 members short of a majority in the Maharashtra assembly, had banked on Ajit Pawar to bring in NCP MLAs. But almost all NCP lawmakers remained with Sharad Pawar.