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.
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.
Terming the present political scenario as a disturbing one, the Governor wrote, "There has been extensive coverage in the electronic and print media that 39 MLAs of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party have expressed their sincere desire and decision to exit the Maha Vikas Aghadi government."
"After having carefully gone through all the material available before me including the reports in electronic and print media. I am of the opinion that a floor test for proving the majority of the chief minister is imperative to ensure that the government continues to function with the confidence of the House," the Governor wrote.
"In this backdrop, an email dated June 28, 2022, was received by Raj Bhavan, Mumbai by 7 independent MLAs. The said letter states that the Chief Minister of Maharashtra has lost the confidence of the majority on the floor of the House thereby, making it imperative to conduct a floor test at the earliest," the notification stated.
"As the constitutional head of the State. I must ensure that the Government functions with the support and confidence of the House. Thus, I have issued a communication to the Chief Minister calling upon to prove his majority on the Floor of the House on June 30, 2022," it further stated.
Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs who visited the Kamakhya temple to seek blessings told reporters that he will take part in floor test tomorrow.
"I visited the Kamakhya temple for happiness and prosperity of Maharashtra. I seek blessings of Maa Kamakhya," Shinde told reporters outside the temple.
When asked about his next step, the rebel leader said: "We will return to Mumbai tomorrow to complete the necessary formalities."
On Tuesday, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had 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.
