Congress calls it 'betrayal of people's mandate,' as NCP-BJP ally in Maharashtra

Congress hit out at Devendra Fadnavis being sworn-in as Maharashtra chief minister on Saturday, saying it was a "betrayal of people's mandate."  month-long political impasse in Maharashtra ended dramatically on Saturday with BJP's Fadnavis returning as chief minister, backed by NCP.

"This is called a betrayal of people's mandate and giving contract for killing democracy," Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet.

He also tagged media reports on allegations of Ajit Pawar's involvement in scams.

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Earlier, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi expressed surprise at political developments in Maharashtra and said Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena negotiations took too long as window was grabbed by "fast movers".

"Surreal what I read about Maharashtra. I thought it was fake news. Candidly and personally speaking, our tripartite negotiations should t have gone on for more than 3 days...took too long. window given was grabbed by fast movers. Pawarji tussi great ho," he said in a tweet.

Maharashtra govt

NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar earlier tweeted that decision to support Fadnavis-led government was t supported by NCP. He added that this was a personal decision of Ajit Pawar himself. He placed on record that we do t support or endorse this decision of his. But BJP MLA  Girish Mahajan has claimed that Ajit Pawar has submitted letter of all 54 NCP MLAs' support to Goverr. 

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Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday took oath as Chief Minister, and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister in Maharashtra in Raj Bhavan on Saturday. Terming Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP as a 'Khichdi government', Fadnavis stated that BJP-NCP will be able to give a  stable government. 

"I wish to thank PM Modi and Amit Shah ji for giving me opportunity for serving state. When Shiv Sena started making efforts to make an alliance outside, it ended up in President's rule. It is t good a state like Maharashtra be under President's rule for so long. Hence I wish to thank NCP's Ajit Pawar for taking decision to provide a stable government and t a Khichdi government in state," he said. 

Earlier on Friday, after joint meeting of Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP, Sharad Pawar in a massive statement revealed that re was unanimity on Uddhav Thackeray being Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He added that discussions between parties would continue tomorrow. Furrmore, he exuded confidence that tie-up would be formally anunced on Saturday. As of Friday, with Uddhav Thackeray at helm, Congress and NCP were going to form next government with a Deputy CM each.

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(with PTI inputs)