Congress Vows To Challenge BJP’s Return To Power In Maharashtra By ‘Political & Legal Means’

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said on Saturday (23 November) that they would put up "a political and legal challenge" at the manner in which a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government was sworn-in in Maharashtra under a shroud of secrecy at dawn on Saturday.

In a stunning political development, Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari on Saturday morning administered the oath of office to BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as the new Chief Minister (CM) of Maharashtra and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar as the new Deputy CM.

Speaking to the media, Patel said that from day one after the election results were declared, the role of the Governor in the entire issue was questionable. "First, the BJP was invited, later Shiv Sena, then NCP, but the Congress was not given a chance to prove its majority or stake claim," Patel said while addressing the media soon after the Sena-NCP's joint briefing.

"Now, suddenly without verifying the list of supporting MLAs, the government has been formed - there's some wrong, something is stinking somewhere," Patel said.

Patel said the manner in which the swearing-in ceremony of the new government was carried out early in the morning with the presence of just one media, "they have exceeded all limits of shamelessness in flouting the democratic process, the laws and Constitutional niceties."

The three parties will now resort to all "political and legal means" to tackle the issue which is a "blot on the state's political history,'' Patel said.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)