Maharashtra political crisis: Congress, Shiv Sena term BJP-backed state government ‘unconstitutional’

Hours after the Supreme Court decision on the Maharashtra political crisis, the Congress and the Shiv Sena said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-backed new government in the state is "unconstitutional" and it will face legal consequences.

Following the SC decision to hand over the matter pertaining to disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena legislators to a larger bench, Congress' chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said after the apex court considers the legal issues involved, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis may face problems.

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"The BJP-supported state government is unconstitutional and all decisions taken so far regarding the formation of the regime are also against the Constitution," he claimed.

The Nationalist Congress Party declined to comment on the SC hearing on Monday, saying it will wait for the formation of the larger bench which will hear the Shiv Sena case soon.

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant expressed concern at the manner in which various constitutional provisions and precedents have been flouted in Maharashtra to install the new government of Shinde-Fadnavis, and said this could prove detrimental to democracy.

Londhe also said that the SC's move would clarify several things, including whether the decision taken by the Maharashtra Assembly`s Deputy Speaker was correct, especially since in the Rajendrasingh Rana case, the court had held that the first list should be taken into account.

"Therefore, the constitutional validity of all subsequent processes - such as taking the election of the new Speaker (July 3), the Governor`s consent to the trust vote (July 4) - will also have to be decided," he contended.

Claiming that most constitutional experts have opined that the decisions may go against the new state government, he said while the fate of the 40 Sena rebel MLAs has been pushed back by a few days, the Shinde-Fadnavis regime may not last too long.

"The BJP may have weaned away the gullible Sena MLAs, but they should realise that once the BJP achieves its political objectives, it would dump them (the rebel MLAs).A The saffron party works on the principle of `use-and-throw`... there`s a threat to the country`s democracy and the Constitution in the current atmosphere of an undeclared Emergency," alleged Londhe.

However, terming the apex court move as a "setback" for the Shiv Sena, BJP leaders have called upon the party to withdraw all its legal cases as they have lost all relevance.