Four days after taking oath for the second term as Maharashtra chief minister, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday announced his resignation saying "we don't have the numbers."
His resignation came after the Supreme Court directed that the floor test for Fadnavis to prove his majority in the assembly will be conducted on Wednesday. Fadnavis had taken oath as chief minister, along with NCP's Ajit Pawar who was sworn in as deputy chief minister at a hastily organised ceremony at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Fadnavis said the BJP will play the role of "an effective opposition" even though he expressed doubts whether the "three-wheeler government" of Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress will be stable.
"...I'll go to Raj Bhavan and tender my resignation. I wish them all the best whoever will form the government. But that will be a very unstable govt as there is a huge difference of opinions," he said.
"I doubt that this three-wheeler govt will be stable but BJP will work as an effective opposition and try to raise the voice of people," Fadnavis added.
Blaming the Shiv Sena for the break up of the "Mahayuti" alliance, the BJP legislature party leader said, "In elections clear majority was given to Mahayuti and BJP got maximum 105 seats. We contested with Shiv Sena, but this mandate was for BJP because BJP won 70% seats out of all seats we contested."
He, however, revealed that the Sena had told them that they would go with anyone who gives them the CM post.
"Shiv Sena told us even before the election results were out, that they will go with anyone which gives them the CM post," he said. "We waited for them (Shiv Sena) for a long time but they didn't respond and instead talked to Congress-NCP. People who never stepped outside Matoshree (Thackeray residence) to meet anyone were going door to door to form a government with NCP and Congress."
"The hunger for power is such that now Shiv Sena leaders are even willing to ally with Sonia Gandhi," he said.
Fadnavis said they would never break away any MLA.
"We had decided that we will never indulge in horse-trading, that we will never try to break away any MLA. Those who said that we indulge in horse trading bought the entire horse stable," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that it is necessary to have a floor test to avoid horse trading and asked Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to appoint a pro-tem speaker to conduct the floor test.
A bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna directed the entire exercise to be telecast live.
Voting in the assembly shall not be on the basis of a secret ballot, the bench said.
In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP is the single-largest party with 105 MLAs, while the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress have 56, 54 and 44 members, respectively.
