BJP-Shiv Sena got mandate to form govt, Congress is murdering democracy: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said the BJP and Shiv Sena got the mandate to form the government with Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister of the state. It's the Congress that is murdering the democracy.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena have got the mandate to form the government with Devendra Fadnavis as CM. It's the Congress that is murdering the democracy and questioning us on the same. BJP's win in state is both moral and political victory and which Congress is trying to hijack," Ravi Prasad told ANI.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday spoke briefly during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha but did not ask his query and accused the government of "murdering" democracy in Maharashtra.

Gandhi, who spoke while opposition members were protesting in the House over the manner in which government was formed in Maharashtra, said he was not asking his question but there was no point "as democracy has been murdered in Maharashtra".

Earlier today, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi led the party's protest in Parliament premises over the government formation in the state.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Maharashtra Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy on Saturday morning. Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena have been trying to form a non-BJP government in the state.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court reserved the order on a joint petition filed by Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party against the decision of the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to invite BJP to form the government in the state.

The order on whether the floor test will be conducted for proving the majority of the BJP-led Fadnavis government is expected to be pronounced at 10:30 am tomorrow.

The BJP won 105 seats in last month's assembly polls in Maharashtra followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.