After the opposition raised slogans of “ED, ED” during the trust vote as rebels voted in favour of Eknath Shinde, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis defended the newly formed government stating that they were indeed the E-D government of ‘Eknath and Devendra’.
“People taunt that it’s an ED government. Yes, it’s an ED government, of Eknath-Devendra,” said the deputy CM.
The opposition has alleged that the Shiv Sena rebels choose to lean towards Shinde led, BJP supported Shiv Sena, was linked to a connection with the Enforcement Directorate, which is a central probe agency.
During the MVA crisis, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut stressed that the MLAs’ were jumping ships fearing action by the central agency. Additionally, amid the crisis Raut was also summoned by the ED in a land grabbing-money laundering scam.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Monday won the crucial floor test in the state Assembly on the last day of the two-day special session of the House.
In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it.
Three legislators abstained from voting, while 21 legislators, including Congress’s Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, were absent during the trust vote.
Speaker Rahul Narvekar announced that the trust vote was carried by a majority vote.
After the death of a Shiv Sena MLA recently, the current strength of the Assembly is reduced to 287, thus the majority mark is 144.
Last month, Eknath Shinde launched a rebellion against the Sena. The majority of MLAs sided with him, which led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30, a day after Thackeray quit the post. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the deputy CM.
(The story has been edited with inputs from news agencies.)
