Floor test will decide: Sharad Pawar on Maharashtra crisis
Mumbai/IBNS: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday expressed confidence that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra would survive the storm triggered by rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde, who claims the support of over 40 MLAs.
"A floor test will decide who has the majority," Pawar, who played a key role in forming the MVA, told reporters this evening.
Only 13 MLAs came for a meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, sources told NDTV.
Meanwhile, Shinde in a video claimed that he has the support of at least 42 MLAs camping at a hotel in Assam's Guwahati.
This means he is placed comfortably to split Shiv Sena without being impacted by the anti-defection law, which requires him to have the support of at least 37 MLAs.
Earlier in the day, Sharad Pawar's NCP and Congress, the alliance partners of Uddhav Thackeray in the ruling MVA coalition, held internal meetings on the current political crisis.
Both Congress and NCP said they would continue to support Uddhav Thackeray.
On Wednesday, the two allies also proposed to make Eknath Shinde the new chief minister of Maharashtra to prevent the fall of their Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
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