Shiv Sena to SC: Maharashtra governor's action arbitrary, malafide

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis with governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari during the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Saturday.

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Saturday approached the Supreme Court against the "arbitrary and malafide actions/decisions" of Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in swearing in Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister. The party has filed a writ petition in the apex court against the state governor, a Sena functionary said here.

The party's move comes after BJP's Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as chief minister and Deputy chief minister respectively in the morning, shocking the state. The BJP central leadership dispatched party general secretary Bhupender Yadav, a trusted confidant who was also the party's in-charge for the state polls, to Mumbai to execute its plan on ground in coordination with Fadnavis.

The decision to form government at the earliest was taken to trump the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress alliance, which appeared set to stake claim to power, as BJP leaders were of the view that the charm of power would help pull many fence-sitter independent MLAs and those from rival camps to its camp.

As the leader of NCP legislative party, Ajit Pawar had collected letters of support from its MLAs and used them to back the BJP's claim to power. NCP leader Nawab Malik has said these letters were meant to support the government formation claim of the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance.

Senior BJP leaders declined to comment on queries about whether Sharad Pawar, a crafty politician with a history of backing alliances of different ideologies in the past, was in the know. He has himself affirmed his support to a Sena-led alliance and said his nephew acted on his own. The BJP leadership was quiet as the three parties were discussing their unlikely alliance all through last week, but it had a Plan B ready.

On Friday night, the Sena, Congress and NCP finalised nitty-gritty of government formation, and were to meet again on Saturday and then approach the governor. Congress general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters that Ajit Pawar was present at the meeting of the three parties at Nehru Centre here on Friday evening.

However, the President's rule, imposed on November 12 when no party could form government after the October 21 elections, was revoked at 5.47 am on Saturday. Fadnavis was back as chief minister with NCP legislature party leader Ajit Pawar taking oath as deputy chief minister.

The two were sworn in at Raj Bhavan around 7.30 am.The news stunned the state, even as speculation began about how Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar would cobble up support of 145 MLAs, necessary to prove the majority, began.