As expected, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's government supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday won the critical 'vote of confidence' in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.In the final tally with a division of votes, the government secured 164 votes and the Opposition got only 99 votes in the 288-member Lower House.
This is the second big legislative victory for the Shinde government sworn-in on June 30 along with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the past two days.On Sunday, the alliance candidate and BJP's advocate Rahul Narwekar was elected the new Speaker, trouncing the Maha Vikas Aghadi's Shiv Sena nominee Rajan Salvi with a comfortable margin.
Fadnavis congratulated Shiv Sena-BJP Chief Minister Shinde, a disciple of late Balasaheb Thackeray and Anand Dighe, for winning the trust vote with a handsome margin.The Speaker's election followed by the trust vote for the Shinde-led government came on the second day of the 2-day Special Session of the Assembly convened by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.