New Delhi: Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday (November 25) said the BJP and Shiv Sena had received a mandate to form government with Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister of Maharashtra. He further claimed that it is the Congress that is murdering democracy.

"The BJP and Shiv Sena have got a mandate to form government with Devendra Fadnavis as CM. It's the Congress that is murdering the democracy and questioning us on the same. BJP's win in the state is both a moral and political victory and which Congress is trying to hijack," Ravi Prasad told reporters.

This comment by the Union minister came after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke briefly during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha but did not state his query and accused the government of "murdering" democracy in Maharashtra.

Gandhi, who spoke while opposition members were protesting in the House over how the government was formed in Maharashtra, said he was not asking his question, but there was no point "as democracy has been murdered in Maharashtra".

Earlier, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi led the party's protest in Parliament premises over the government formation in the state.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy on Saturday (November 23) morning while the Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena have been trying to form a non-BJP government in the state.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court reserved the order on a joint petition filed by Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party against the decision of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to invite BJP to form the government in the state.