The Congress has not fallen prey to the conspiracy theories and decided to stick with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who party leaders believe has been betrayed by his nephew at a time he was sincerely trying to install a Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government in Maharashtra.

Top Congress leaders believe Ajit betrayed his uncle driven by extraneous pressures and family intrigues. After a meeting with Congress MLAs in Mumbai on Saturday morning, senior leader Ahmed Patel said: “We will stay together to counter the BJP. Every effort — political and legal — will be made to defeat their designs.”

Addressing the media together with Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge, Patel said: “We met Sharad Pawar in the morning and we have decided to fight it out.”

Patel contested the allegation of delay on behalf of the Congress in forming the coalition, saying they started the process the moment Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray sought support.

Accusing the BJP of “crossing all limits of shamelessness”, Patel said: “The governor’s role has been suspect from the outset. How can the swearing-in happen without verification of signatures and letter of support. It was done early morning in a hush-hush manner, violating all constitutional principles, as the governor was aware of the process of government formation by three parties.”

In Delhi, the Congress accused governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari of acting as home minister Amit Shah’s “hitman” by swearing in a government without following the due process.

Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Devendra Fadnavis met the governor at 2am and by 5.47am the lengthy process of withdrawal of President’s rule was completed.

“How did the governor satisfy himself that Fadnavis has majority within two hours? What was the hurry to complete the process in the dead of the night? The NCP has not split with 2/3rd of its MLAs, i.e. 36 MLAs, as required under the anti-defection law. Barely 10-11 MLAs went to Raj Bhavan. We are taking legal advice on various aspects.”

Surjewala, who recalled that Fadnavis had threatened to send Ajit to jail in the Rs 72,000-crore irrigation scam and had now embraced him as deputy chief minister, asked 10 questions:

• Who staked claim to form the government and at what time?
• Did he get signatures of the MLAs of BJP and NCP to satisfy they constitute majority in the Assembly?
• Could he verify the signatures within one hour to recommend revocation of President’s rule to enable him to swear in the new government?
• When did he send a report to the Centre to revoke the President’s rule?
• What time did the cabinet meet to revoke the President’s rule and who all attended?
• At what time was the cabinet’s recommendation sent to the President?
• At what time did the President revoke President’s rule?
• At what time did the governor write to Fadnavis inviting him for the oath ceremony? At what time did the oath ceremony take place and were the usual invitees, including the high court chief justice, invited?
• Why was it recorded by a single private agency, ANI, and not even the state-owned Doordarshan was present?
• Why is there no disclosure on when Fadnavis has to prove his majority in the Assembly?