Maharashtra: Senior most MLA be made Pro-tem Speaker, says Ashok Chavan, accuses BJP of buying time to poach MLAs

Accusing the BJP of seeking more time to poach MLAs, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Sunday said that the senior-most MLA should be made the Pro-tem Speaker of the House.

"The senior-most member of the Assembly should be made the Pro-tem Speaker as per the precedence," said Chavan while speaking to media persons outside JW Marriott Hotel in Andheri here.

"The BJP is trying to gain more time from the Supreme Court. You can understand the motive behind this. They are trying to poach MLAs from other parties," he added.

Earlier today, Congress MLAs were shifted to JW Marriott Hotel here.

"There is no question of NCP and BJP coming together. Ajit Pawar is misleading the people. He has been removed from the leadership (Leader of Legislative party) of NCP by Sharad Pawar and Jayant Patil is the new leader of this party," Chavan told ANI.

"They don't have numbers now. NCP is with Shiv Sena alliance. Hence Ajit Pawar will be the Deputy Chief Minister of the state only for a few days," added Chavan.

Accusing Ajit Pawar of misleading people, Chavan said: "Ajit Pawar is making statements (tweets) to mislead the people. They (MLAs) are safe at one places. It is better to have them all at one place, have better communication for the meeting. BJP is trying to break them. Hence our MLAs have said that they will be together at one place."

Earlier today, Chavan had also accused NCP leader Ajit Pawar of betraying his party MLAs by 'misusing' their letter of support.

"Many MLAs who were led astray have come back. The rest of them will also come back soon. Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress has the number. Our all 44 MLAs are safe at the right place. We need not worry about anything," said Chavan.

Being asked about his meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, he said: "I met Pawar Sa'ab. I have been told that the letter of the MLAs was misused by Ajit Pawar. The MLAs of Pawar Sa'ab have denied giving any kind of support through that letter. They say that their letter was misused."

The Supreme Court on Sunday issued notices to the Maharashtra government, state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, his deputy Ajit Pawar and the Centre, asking for relevant documents and letters of support from MLAs by 10 am tomorrow.

The top court, while hearing the NCP-Sena-Congress plea against BJP-lead government formation in the state, said that appropriate orders will be passed tomorrow.

The bench consisting Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna, asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to produce relevant documents including Maharashtra Governor's letter inviting BJP to form the government and letter of support of MLAs by 10 am tomorrow.

After a prolonged uncertainty over the government formation that lasted for nearly a month, Fadnavis on Saturday early morning took oath for the second consecutive term as the state Chief Minister, while Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as his deputy.