BJP helps NCP unseat Maharashtra council chairman

In a major political development, the ruling BJP in Maharashtra on Monday supported the NCP in its no-confidence motion against legislative council chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh of the Congress, even as the BJP's ally Shiv Sena abstained from voting.

The Nationalist Congress Party, which has an upper hand in the number game in the council, had brought the no-confidence motion against the Congress leader. This was the first time in the state's history that such a motion was passed.

Out of the total trength of 78 members of the upper house, 45 voted in favour of the motion, 22 voted against it and the rest abstained.

The Shiv Sena and Congress members vehemently spoke against the motion and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the NCP had a tacit understanding before the 2014 assembly elections and now they stood exposed.

"We supported the NCP for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Congress-mukt Bharat (Congress-free India)," Revenue Minister Eknathrao Khadse told reporters.

On the Shiv Sena's decision to abstain, party spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said: "Our stand was very clear... since BJP went with the NCP, it should not appear that we are going with the Congress. We took a principled stand."

State Congress president Ashok Chavan termed the development "vastraharan (disrobing) of democracy" and lauded Deshmukh's spotless record in the post in the past 11 years.

He alleged that the understanding between the NCP and BJP has come out in the open, with the NCP backstabbing its former ally, the Congress.

With Deshmukh's defeat, NCP's Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar is likely to be elected the new chairman of the legislative council in the next couple of days.