'We're still with MVA': Congress' Ashok Chavan reaffirms support for alliance after Shinde wins floor test in Maharashtra Assembly

Mumbai: As the political upheaval in Maharashtra continues, the Congress on Monday reaffirmed its support for the tri-party Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. The remarks came even as the newly formed Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government proved its majority in a floor test and rumours swirled about the party's possible exit from the MVA.

"During speaker election discussion is held before voting begins...they reversed process. People who were delayed by merely 2-3 minutes couldn't enter as they closed the lobby gates. We were with MVA, still with them," assured Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Monday.

Eleven Congress MLAs - Ashok Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar, Dheeraj Deshmukh, Praniti Shinde, Jitesh Antapurkar, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Raju Awale, Mohan Hambarde, Kunal Patil, Madhavrao Jawalgaonkar and Shirish Chaudhary - were absent during the floor test.

Chavan and Wadettiwar came late and were unable to enter the House at the time of the vote.

Following the floor test on Monday, sources had told Times Now that the party was thinking of breaking away from the alliance. Such a move, they said, could come within the next few days.

"The only glue that was behind the coming together of the three parties (Sena, NCP and Congress) was power. Now that the power has disappeared everybody who was a part of the MVA is bound to have second some thoughts," BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe opined in conversation with Times Now.

Maharashtra Congress-in-charge HK Patil had however refuted the claim, insisting that the three-party alliance was intact. "I saw some reports stating Congress likely to pull out of the MVA alliance in Maharashtra. It is false. Congress has neither discussed this nor decided on anything. The rumours are far away from the truth. MVA alliance is stable. Congress is with MVA, and the 3-party alliance is intact. Today, we all have voted for the no-confidence motion," he said.