Sharad Pawar calls crucial NCP meeting; trust vote, Leader of Opposition post on agenda

The NCP meeting comes a day ahead of the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government's floor test in the state Assembly.

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Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar called for a meeting on Sunday to discuss the trust vote when the Eknath Shinde government would need to prove its majority. NCP is also eyeing the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly and the names of candidates will be discussed in the meeting later today. "NCP chief Sharad Pawar has called a meeting of the party later today. Two topics to be taken up for discussion - trust vote and the leader from the party who will be chosen as the Leader of Opposition," NCP leader Jayant Patil told mediapersons here.

Eknath Shinde`s 10-day rebellion against Shiv Sena brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The political crisis in Maharashtra ended with Shinde taking over as Chief Minister and BJP`s Devendra Fadnavis as deputy chief minister. The Eknath Shinde camp, which had stayed mostly in Guwahati during the revolt, had said that Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are Shiv Sena`s traditional rivals.

They had earlier urged Uddhav Thackeray to stitch a "natural alliance" with the BJP. Meanwhile, in a first win for the BJP and the Shinde camp, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Rahul Narwekar was elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday. Narwekar received a total of 164 votes in support and 107 against him.

The post of the Speaker went vacant in the Assembly after Congress` Nana Patole resigned from the office in February 2021, to take charge as the party`s state unit chief. In the absence of a Speaker, Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal was playing the part of an acting Speaker in the House. In the two-day special session of the Assembly that began today, the Shinde-Fadnavis government will have to prove its majority on the floor of the House on Monday in a Vote of Confidence.