Sonia Gandhi Leads Protest In Parliament Against Maharashtra Govt Formation

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday led a protest in Parliament premises against the BJP's move to form the government in Maharashtra as senior leaders from the opposition party raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Terming the midnight coup in which the BJP formed the government with Ajit Pawar as "murder of democracy", Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma, Adhir Ranjan Choudhury and Shashi Tharoor raised slogans and held placards criticising the BJP and demanding "justice".

The protest was held in the Parliament House complex.

In the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said democracy had been murdered in Maharashtra.

"There is no question of asking a question (in Question Hour) today. Democracy has been murdered in Maharashtra," he said.

The Maharashtra government formation issue rocked both the Houses on Monday. Congress members stormed the well in the Lok Sabha carrying placards leading to adjournment of House proceedings.

Rajya Sabha proceedings were also adjourned for the day after the Congress and other opposition parties stalled the functioning of the House over the situation in Maharashtra.

In a dramatic development on Saturday morning, BJP's Fadnavis took oath as chief minister and Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was sworn-in as his deputy on Saturday morning.

The move jolted the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena, who were giving final touches to government formation in the state, but rattled the NCP the most due to Ajit Pawar's rebellion.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP is the single largest party with 105 MLAs, followed by the Sena (56 MLAs), the NCP (54 MLAs) and the Congress (44 MLAs)