Sanjay Raut terms Devendra Fadnavis swearing-in as 'murder of Constitution'

Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday termed the swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister as 'murder of Constitution' and claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) do not have the majority to pass the floor test.

"...By taking the oath of the Chief Minister they have murdered the constitution. It is a murder of our national slogan Satyameva Jayate (Truth alone triumphs). Why they are afraid? Why they are running from proving the majority? Why we have to go to the Supreme Court for seeking justice," he said while addressing media in Mumbai.

"Today in Parliament, the discussion will be held on Constitution... Is this the Constitution Bhimrao Ambedkar ji has made? We have 162 MLAs, all the three main political parties (NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena) yesterday came together which you people called it as a show of strength, but we came together to show it to the people of Maharashtra, Rashtrapati Bhavan and Raj Bhavan," he added.

The statement from Shiv Sena's leader came just a day after, NCP legislative party leader Jayant Patil along with Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan and others visited Raj Bhawan and submitted a letter to the Governor showing the strength of 162 MLAs.

After which Raut invited Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to "come and watch" the show of strength of the three parties.

Also, Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance today requested the Supreme Court to restrain the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led Maharashtra government from taking important policy decisions.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter before a three-judge bench headed by Justice Ramana which pronounced its order on the Maharashtra assembly floor test today.

Meanwhile, the top court has ordered that a floor test should be held in the Maharashtra Assembly before 5 pm on November 27, days after BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the state's chief minister nixing Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP's bid.

The floor test is a constitutional mechanism under which a chief minister can be asked to prove majority in the state Assembly.