Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked the Maharashtra Legislature Secretary to hold a floor test of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government at 11 am on Thursday.
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A copy of the letter issued by Koshyari late on Tuesday night is with PTI.
The letter comes amid the rebellion in the ruling Shiv Sena by senior minister Eknath Shinde, who has been camping in Guwahati since last week with majority of party legislators and several independent MLAs, which has pushed the government led by Thackeray, who is also the Sena president, into a crisis.
Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said he will reach Mumbai on Thursday for the floor test against the beleaguered Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra. Shinde told reporters in Guwahati, where a large group of MLAs backing him is camping since a week, that he will reach Mumbai along with all his group legislators.
In his letter sent to Maharashtra Legislature's Principal Secretary Rajendra Bhagwat, Koshyari, said, "A special session of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha (legislative Assembly) shall be summoned on June 30 (Thursday) at 11 am with the only agenda of a trust vote against the chief minister, and the proceedings shall be concluded in any case by 5 pm."
"The proceedings of the House shall be telecast live and appropriate arrangements for the same shall be made," the letter said.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had on Tuesday night met the governor and requested him to ask the Thackeray-led government to prove its majority in the Assembly, claiming that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition dispensation seemed to be in minority as 39 Sena MLAs who belong to the Shinde faction have said they do not support it.
Shinde, who stepped out of the luxury hotel in Guwahati, the rebel group's home for the last week, said he had offered prayers at Guwahati's Kamakhya temple for peace and prosperity of people of Maharashtra. His announcement of returning to Mumbai came hours after BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, tipped to make a comeback as the chief minister, met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan Tuesday night and asked him to call for a floor test in the Assembly as the Thackeray-led government had lost majority after the Shinde group's rebellion.