Mahayuti govt wins trust vote in Maha assembly

Mumbai, Dec 9: Five days after assuming office, the Mahayuti alliance government in Maharashtra led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday comfortably won a confidence vote in the state assembly.
The trust motion, tabled by Shiv Sena MLA Uday Samant and others, was passed by a voice vote on the last day of the three-day special assembly session.
Some opposition members were absent when the trust motion was approved in the assembly. They included Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray.
On December 4, when Governor C P Radhakrishnan handed Fadnavis the letter inviting him to form the government, he had stipulated in the document that the BJP leader must clear the trust motion in the House in 21 days, sources said.
Speaker Rahul Narwekar, elected unopposed for a second straight term earlier in the day, announced that the trust motion has been approved by the newly-constituted House.
The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP ‘Mahayuti’ coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats in the 288-member assembly, where the majority mark is 145.
“The confidence motion has been passed with a majority,” Narwekar said.
BJP leader Fadnavis was sworn-in as the chief minister for a third time on December 5 at a grand ceremony in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan. Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) took oath as deputy CMs at the ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The 15th assembly officially began its tenure on December 7, two weeks the poll results were announced. With the BJP-led alliance enjoying a super majority in the lower House, the floor test was a mere formality.
Shiv Sena leader and former minister Samant, BJP legislator Sanjay Kute, former minister Dilip Walse Patil (NCP), and independent MLA Ravi Rana tabled the proposal for a confidence motion in the lower House.
With Narwekar’s appointment as Speaker, the ruling coalition now enjoys the support of 229 MLAs, including small parties and independent MLAs. (PTI)