Maharashtra govt formation: Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari recommends President's Rule, cuts short NCP deadline; Cabinet gives nod

The impasse over government formation in Maharashtra took a new turn on Tuesday after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari recommended President’s rule in the state. As per a statement tweeted by Koshyari’s office, “He is satisfied that the government cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution, (and therefore) has today submitted a report as contemplated by the provision of Article 356 of the Constitution.”

Raj Bhavan Press Release 12.11.2019 3.16 PM pic.twitter.com/qmlQA6ghBR

— Governor of Maharashtra (@maha_governor) November 12, 2019

Article 356, commonly known as President’s rule, deals with ‘failure of constitutional machinery in the state’. [caption id=“attachment_7640751” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Twitter@maha_governor[/caption] The Union Cabinet on Tuesday also recommended President’s rule in Maharashtra where no political party has been able to form a government after the Assembly polls last month. Sources said the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the political impasse in Maharashtra and decided to recommend to the president to impose Central rule in the state. The recommendation for President’s Rule in Maharashtra came before the 8.30 pm deadline given to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to form the government ended. Koshyari had invited the NCP, the third-largest party in the state after Shiv Sena failed to submit a letter of support from the NCP and Congress. Leaders from Shiv Sena had on Monday said that the NCP and Congress had offered in-principle support to form the government. In a telephonic conversation with Sonia Gandhi, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray sought her party’s support to form the government. The Sena is the second-largest party in the 288-member House with 56 MLAs after the BJP (105). The Shiv Sena, which was trying to form a coalition government with the support of the NCP and the Congress, has moved the Supreme Court against the governor’s refusal to grant more time for government formation, reports said. Given the stalemate between the two alliance partners, the role of the Congress with its 44 legislators and the Nationalist Congress Party with 54 MLAs is crucial. Earlier, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar had said that the party is in no hurry to form the government and will wait for the Congress’ decision. “We (Congress and NCP) contested together and we remain together,” he said. Sources told CNN-News18 that NCP wanted both the Shiv Sena and Congress on board, instead of getting ‘outside support’. If the three parties had come together, the chief minister would have likely been from the Shiv Sena. However, senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Mallikarjun Kharge, who were supposed to visit Mumbai to discuss modalities of support to the Shiv Sena for government formation in Maharashtra, deferred their visit, Congress’ Manikrao Thakre told PTI. Meanwhile, Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam blamed the BJP and Shiv Sena for bringing Maharashtra to the “doorstep of President’s Rule”. He said holding Congress responsible for the instability the state is witnessing currently is meaningless. With inputs from PTI