Confident of 162 MLAs voting against Fadnavis govt: Jayant Patil

NCP leader Jayant Patil on Monday asserted that the 162 MLAs from the Congress, Shiv Sena and his own party will ensure the downfall of the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led government in Maharashtra.

"I am confident that in the floor test, all these 162 MLAs will vote against the present government of Maharashtra. They will be defeated soon," Patil told reporters here.

Patil added that the BJP government led by Fadnavis did not have the support of the people whereas the Shiv Sena-NCP and Congress alliance government will be welcomed by them.

"The mandate of the people is against the incumbent government. Had they been a popular government they would not have formed the government in such a haste. The new government which the people want and are expecting will come to power soon," Patil said.

In a show of their strength, Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena pooled their MLAs at Hotel Grand Hyatt today evening.

Senior leaders of three parties were present at the meeting, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya Thackeray, Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge and Ashok Chavan as well as NCP supremo Sharad Pawar gathered at the hotel.

Chants of "Long live Maha Vikas Aghadi" filled the hall where the MLAs of three parties assembled.

Earlier in the day, NCP legislative party leader Jayant Patil along with Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan and others visited Raj Bhavan and gave a letter showing the strength of 162 MLAs to the officials at Raj Bhavan.