Sanjay Raut criticises Maharashtra gov's order for floor test

|HT|

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday denounced the Maharashtra governor’s order for a floor test tomorrow as “unlawful activity”, saying the demand for a special session is not in accordance with the law. "This is an unlawful activity. The issue of disqualification of 16 MLAs is pending in the Supreme Court. Now if BJP and Governor House are trying to bring down the government, we will approach the Supreme Court and seek justice," said Sanjay Raut.

In a letter to the secretary of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari directed to convene a special session on Thursday for a trust vote against Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and conclude the proceedings of the floor test by 5pm. The letter was dated June 28, the same day former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis met Koshyari and requested him to ask the Thackeray government to prove its majority in the Assembly. Fadnavis claimed that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government seemed to be in minority as 39 Sena MLAs who belong to the Shinde faction have said they do not support it. "The speed with which the Raj Bhavan has acted on the demand [by BJP] is faster than the Rafael jets purchased by [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi," Raut remarked.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the plea moved by Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu against the governor’s order. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter before the apex court on behalf of Prabhu, complaining that the court’s interim order on Monday protecting the group of rebel Sena legislators from the disqualification proceedings till July 12 is being misused to bring down the government in the state.

“Keeping in view the kind of urgency that has been created, we will want to hear the matter today itself...We will perform our duty,” said a bench of justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala while fixing the hearing.

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