As the Supreme Court started hearing a joint plea filed by Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress against government formation in Maharashtra, BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Sunday said his party will follow the apex court's verdict, while maintained that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has given time to BJP till November 30 to prove majority on the floor.
"We will follow whatever the Supreme Court says but the Governor has given us time till November 30. We will prove the majority with 170 MLAs or more than that," Shelar said while addressing the media.
After a prolonged uncertainty over the government formation that lasted for nearly a month, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday morning took oath for the second consecutive term as the state Chief Minister, while NCP leader Ajit Pawar was sworn in as deputy chief minister.
All eyes are on the Supreme Court today as it's hearing a joint plea of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress against the decision of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for inviting Fadnavis to form the government in the state on November 23.
The petitioners have requested the Supreme Court to order a floor test to be held on Sunday (today) itself.
Being asked why Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took oath as chief minister and deputy chief minister of Maharashtra in wee hours of Saturday, he said that BJP people go to shakha in the morning as it is the time of 'Ram Prahar'.
"They say the swearing-in was done in the darkness of the night. We are people who go to 'shakha' early morning and that is 'Ram Prahar' (time) as per our belief. How would they, who forgot Lord Ram, understand the importance of 'Ram Prahar'?" he said.
Cornering Shiv Sena and its leader Sanjay Raut for delaying government formation in the state despite constant claims, the BJP leader took a pot shot at Uddhav Thackeray's party and said, "At least Sanjay Raut should not speak about truth and lie. His party announced that they will take oath on November 17 but they did not do so. They announced that letter of support was being submitted to Raj Bhavan while it was not."
"They even offered sweets to us staking claim to form government in Maharashtra, which are still awaited. They announced it will be a chief minister from their party but nothing such happened. Sanjay Raut should speak up and tell who lied and who spoke truth from his party," he said.
He continued to targetting Raut asking that those who could not decide over Common Minimum Programme with Congress and NCP in last 10 days how can they bring MLAs before the governor in 10 minutes.
Shelar further questioned the basis on which Sena thought to join hands with Congress, who has been protesting against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill.
"We wish to ask Sena that will they support NRC and Citizenship Amendment Bill? They were always of the view that action is needed against illegal Bangladeshis in Mumbai and other parts of the country. As they have decided to go with Congress, now they must clear their stand over these issues," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )