Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi allies Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress on Thursday asserted that they will continue to support Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose party Shiv Sena is facing a rebellion in its legislative ranks, threatening the stability of his government.
The NCP said that it 'will do all it can to save Maharashtra's ruling alliance' and was firmly with Thackeray.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai after a party meeting chaired by NCP president Sharad Pawar in the backdrop of the prevailing political crisis in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said his party was firmly with the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA.
"We will do all we can to save the alliance government," said Ajit Pawar, a senior leader of the NCP.
"I spoke to Uddhav Thackeray over the phone (about the political crisis)," he said.
Ajit Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, rejected criticism that he has denied development funds to MVA allies Congress and the Shiv Sena.
"I have never discriminated against anyone. There was never any cut on budgetary funds," he said.
To a question on Sena MP Sanjay Raut's comments that his party was open to consider quitting the ruling bloc if dissident MLAs return to Mumbai and holds talks with the CM, Ajit Pawar said, "It is his prerogative. We will ask Uddhav Thackeray about it. May be this was spoken to bring the rebels back to the party fold."
Asked if the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had a role to play in the ongoing political crisis, Ajit Pawar said, "So far, no top BJP leader has been seen in the forefront."
Meanwhile, Maharashtra PWD minister Ashok Chavan of the Congress on Thursday said his party's support to the MVA will continue and asserted that the state assembly, and not hotels, was the appropriate place to decide if a government was in a majority or minority.
The MVA has been pushed to the brink after a section of Shiv Sena MLAs, led by Cabinet minister Eknath Shinde, raised a banner of revolt against the party leadership.
The revolt by Shinde, who has claimed the support of 37 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, has pushed the two-and-a-half-year-old MVA government into a grave crisis.
"We (the Congress) formed the MVA with the Shiv Sena and the NCP to stop the BJP (from coming to power). Our support to the MVA continues," Chavan said.
He was talking to told reporters after a meeting of Congress leaders called to discuss the prevailing political situation in the state.
The state minister said whether the Shiv Sena-led MVA government has been reduced to a minority or not cannot be decided from hotels as the floor of the House was the right forum to determine support enjoyed by a government.
Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs are camping in a hotel in Guwahati in the BJP-ruled Assam.
Asked whether the MVA was ready for a floor test, Chavan said a decision in this regard will have to be taken by the three allies who constitute the ruling alliance.
He said the issue hasn't been discussed so far inside the coalition.
