It is learnt that the Governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, will give consent to appoint a Speaker for the Legislative Assembly in the next 48 hours.
The post of Speaker in the Assembly fell vacant after Nana Patole stepped down following his appointment as the state president of the Congress, and to elect his successor, an election will take place on the floor of the House.
Here’s how the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi stacks up; officially, Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs, Nationalist Congress Party 53 and Congress 44. Two NCP MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik are currently in jail in connection with money laundering cases. The BJP has 106 MLAs and the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi has three in the House.
The Samajwadi Party, AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti party have two MLAs each. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Peasants and Workers Party, Swabhimani Party, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Jansurajya Shakti Party and Krantikari Shetkari Party have one MLA each. Then there are 13 independent legislators which make up the remaining numbers.
In the face of a rebellion, as 50 MLAs – 38 from Shiv Sena, two MLAs of Prahar Jan Shakti Party and 11 independent MLAs are away from Maharashtra, the ruling Maha Vikas Adhadi would not have the numbers. This works in favour of the BJP, which, with adequate numbers, will comfortably bring in a Speaker from the party.
It is learnt that as soon as the Speaker is elected, the rebelling MLA, including Eknath Shinde will return to Maharashtra.
Earlier in the day, the lawmakers held a meeting at Guwahati’s Radisson Blu, where they are presently housed. In the meeting, discussions took place on how they can reach Mumbai safely to stake a claim for forming a government in the next two days, sources informed. Sources further say that Shinde has assured that all MLAs and their families will be provided central security.
So far, Y+ security cover has been provided to 15 MLAs of the rebel camp. About four to five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commandos, in shifts, will be securing Ramesh Bornare, Mangesh Kudalkar, Sanjay Shirsat, Latabai Sonawane, Prakas Surve, Sadanand Sarvankar, Yogesh Dada Kadam, Pratap Sarnaik, Yamini Jadhav, Pradeep Jaiswal, Sanjay Rathod, Dadaji Bhuse, Dilip Lande, Balaji Kalyanar, and Sandipan Bhumare.
