After Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was elected speaker of Maharashtra assembly elections on Sunday, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed confidence of the Shiv Sena-BJP government winning the floor test on Monday.
We would prove our majority with 166 votes in tomorrow's vote of confidence, Fadnavis said.
"The youngest speaker candidate won the election with 164 votes today as two MLAs couldn't come due to health issues," news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
Defending the first decision of the new government to overturn the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government's move of relocating the proposed Mumbai Metro Line-3 car shed from Aarey Colony, Fadnavis said, "Aarey issue is half genuine and half sponsored. Work paused after 25 per cent had been completed. Already cost has been escalated by Rs 10,000 crore; more the delay, more will cost escalation. This is the only solution to Mumbai's congestion."
The decision had attracted criticism with environmental activists and some political parties, including the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and AAP, staging a protest against it.
He also condemned the Amravati incident, calling it "barbaric." He said the accused have been arrested and the NIA is probing if there is an international connection to the murder.
