Sena likely to vote against BJP in floor test

Devendra Fadnavis will have to win the trust vote scheduled on Wednesday afternoon to remain the chief minister.

Sources said the Maharashtra Assembly will elect a new Speaker if the Sena and the Congress do not withdraw their candidates. It will be another test of strength for the BJP which has fielded Haribhau Bagde.

An editorial published in the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna warned the BJP against accepting an offer of support from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

“Will the BJP save the government with the help of rodents? NCP is a party that is known to nibble at the state exchequer,” the editorial said.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also alleged that the BJP was not making effort to talk to the Shiv Sena.

The BJP fell short of a majority in Maharashtra by 22 seats. The saffron brigade won altogether 123 Assembly seats in the state. It is widely expected that BJP would go with former ally Shiv Sena which won 63 seats.

But the NCP, which won 41 seats, had played a spoiler by offering unconditional outside support to the BJP in government formation in the state.

The BJP had contested alone in Maharashtra after snapping its 25-year alliance with the Shiv Sena over a seat-sharing disagreement.

In Maharashtra, all previous alliance partners - BJP and Shiv Sena of NDA and Congress and NCP of UPA - fought elections individually after failing to forge pre-poll tie-up.