Mumbai: With the Supreme Court likely to take a call on crucial floor test in Maharashtra on Monday, which will decide the fate of the nascent BJP-led government, senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Sunday alleged that BJP leaders had booked rooms in hotels where his party MLAs are put up and were contacting some of them.
Terming the Fadnavis' government an "illegitimate government", Chavan said the Congress demands that the state government should tender its resignation without any delay and arrange a floor test on Monday.
Speculation was rife that the task of getting MLAs into the BJP's fold has been entrusted to senior leader Radhkrishna Vikhe Patil, who had crossed over from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the October Assembly polls, Sainik-turned-Congressman-turned BJP Rajya Sabha MP Narayan Rane, NCP-turned-BJP MLA Ganesh Naik and Babanrao Pachpute.
When asked about the speculation, Vikhe Patil gave a cryptic and open-to-interpretation reply, stating: "I have good relations with all MLAs". Chavan told reporters that some Congress MLAs had told him about the move by the BJP.
"Our MLAs are united and will not be poached," Chavan said. MLAs of the Congress, NCP and Sena are sequestered in different hotels in the metropolis, to stall any attempts by the BJP to poach them ahead of the floor test in the Assembly.
Incidentally, BJP leader Ravindra Chavan was seen entering Hotel Renaissance in suburban Powai where NCP MLAs were staying initially since Saturday evening.
The Congress legislators were earlier supposed to leave for Jaipur but were later put up in Mumbai in view of the fast-paced political developments. While the Congress MLAs are staying in J W Marriott in Juhu, the Sena MLAs are staying at The Lalit hotel located near the Mumbai international airport.