BJP wanted excuse to run away during floor test, says NCP's Nawab Malik

The NCP on Saturday (November 30) accused the BJP of running away from the House after the opposition party staged a walkout before the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas
Aghadi government faced a floor test.

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance government passed the floor test with 169 votes in favour. The BJPs 105 MLAs walked out before head count began in the 288-member House.

BJP MLAs objected to convening of the session and also NCP leader Dilip Walse Patils appointment as pro-tem Speaker in place of BJPs Kalidas Kolambkar before walking out.

The NCPs chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said Walse Patil was appointed as pro-tem Speaker with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s consent. The session too was convened after Koshyaris approval, he said.

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“They wanted some excuse to run away, thats why all this (ruckus). Devendra ji (BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis) should take lessons from (senior BJP leader Eknath) Khadse on
how an opposition leader should work,” Malik said.

NCP MP Supriya Sule too said that the BJP ran away from floor test.

“We are absolutely democratic. We will not stifle their (oppositions) voice. For us, the battle is not personal. We will win their hearts with love,” she said.

“Maharashtra never saw vindictive approach. Our government will not work in a vindictive manner…They (the BJP) ran away when the floor test was on,” Sule said.

Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan said Fadnavis should have welcomed his successor Uddhav Thackeray with open heart.

“But instead he raised minor technical issues. This was not right,” Chavan said.

Also read | Uddhav wins floor test by 169-0 in Maharashtra assembly, BJP walks out