New Delhi: Jailed Nationalist Congress Party leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking permission on Thursday to appear in a floor test that has been called so that the ruling government can prove its majority.
The Supreme Court will hear the matter in the evening.
The Shiv Sena, along with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, forms the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Amid uprisings within Shiv Sena, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday asked Governor Bhagat Singh to convene a special session of the Legislative Assembly for the state government to seek the trust vote.
Last week, nearly half of Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against party chief and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over a range of issues. Describing themselves as the “real Shiv Sena”, legislators led by minister Eknath Shinde camped in BJP-ruled Assam for a week.
He flew to Goa on Wednesday and is expected to appear for the floor test tomorrow.
BJP leader and head of opposition Devendra Fadnavis met the Governor at Raj Bhavan late on Tuesday and demanded the MVA government to prove its majority.
Earlier in the day, Fadnavis went to Delhi to meet senior party leaders JP Nadda and Amit Shah.
Shiv Sena has challenged the Governor’s request for a floor test in the Supreme Court calling it “illegal”.
The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed similar petitions by jailed leaders in the recently concluded Maharashtra Legislative Council case.
Cabinet minister Nawab Malik and former state home minister Anil Deshmukh have been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in money laundering cases and are currently lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail.
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