Hours after the political twist in Maharashtra with Devendra Fadnavis swearing in as the Chief Minister and NCP’s Ajit Pawar as his deputy, the Congress termed today as a “black spot” in history.

Speaking to reporters, Ahmed Patel, flanked by Maharashtra Congress in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders, said: “Everything was done in a hushed manner early morning. Something is wrong somewhere. Nothing can be more shameful than this.”

Patel further said that the Congress would put up “a political and legal challenge” at the manner in which a Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was sworn-in in Maharashtra under a shroud of secrecy at dawn on Saturday.

The Congress party asserted that it is confident of forming the government in Maharashtra along with Shiv Sena and NCP despite Ajit Pawar’s shocker early Saturday.

“All the three (Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena) parties are together in this and I am confident we will defeat BJP in the trust vote. All Congress MLAs are present here except two who are right now in their village, but they too are with us,” Ahmed Patel said.

In a parallel press conference jointly held by the NCP and the Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar said that the NCP leaders were cheated into attending the swearing-in ceremony of Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

Addressing media at a joint press conference hosted with the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, Mumbai, Sharad Pawar said, “We are absolutely sure that the BJP-led government that sworn-in today won’t be able to pass the floor test. The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress will form the government as the number is with us.”

A few NCP leaders who attended the oath-taking ceremony said that they had no clue as to where they were being taken. They said they just received a call from Ajit Pawar to meet him.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, “This is a new kind of politics which the country is witnessing. This is a clear disrespect of the Constitution and people of Maharashtra.”

“This is the repeated game that the BJP is playing not only in Maharashtra but across the country. In Haryana too, the BJP formed the government with Dushyant Chautala’s JJP which was against it during the polls” he said.

Thackeray further said, “The BJP should go back and respect Chhatrapati Shivaji’s ideologies. This is a political strike on Maharashtra by BJP.”

Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar was on Saturday removed as the Legislative Party leader after taking oath as the deputy CM.

Reacting on the development, party supremo and uncle Sharad Pawar had earlier in the day said his nephew’s decision was a personal one.

Sharad Pawar said that the decision was not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and placed on record that they do not support or endorse the decision of Ajit Pawar.

In the October 21 election, the BJP had won 105 out of 288 seats, while its pre-poll alliance partner Shiv Sena won 56 seats. The NCP and the Congress won 54 and 44 seats, respectively. However, the Shiv Sena had a fallout with the BJP as Uddhav Thackeray demand rotational chief ministership. But the BJP refused to concede the demand of Shiv Sena.

President’s rule was imposed in Maharashtra on November 12, 18 days after the results of the elections were declared as none of the parties were able to form a government in the state.