Mumbai: The NCP on Saturday accused the BJP of running away from the House after the opposition party staged a walkout before the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government faced a floor test.

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance government passed the floor test with 169 votes in favour. The BJP's 105 MLAs walked out before head count began in the 288-member House.

BJP MLAs objected to convening of the session and also NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil's appointment as pro-tem Speaker in place of BJP's Kalidas Kolambkar before walking out.

The NCP's chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said Walse Patil was appointed as pro-tem Speaker with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's consent. The session too was convened after Koshyari's approval, he said.

"They wanted some excuse to run away, that's why all this (ruckus). Devendra ji (BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis) should take lessons from (senior BJP leader Eknath) Khadse on how an opposition leader should work," Malik said.

NCP MP Supriya Sule too said that the BJP ran away from floor test.

"We are absolutely democratic. We will not stifle their (opposition's) voice. For us, the battle is not personal. We will win their hearts with love," she said.

"Maharashtra never saw vindictive approach. Our government will not work in a vindictive manner...They (the BJP) ran away when the floor test was on," Sule said.

Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan said Fadnavis should have welcomed his successor Uddhav Thackeray with open heart.

"But instead he raised minor technical issues. This was not right," Chavan said

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Beed, Apr 13 (PTI): A 13-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by her stepfather in Maharashtra's Beed district, police said on Monday.

Based on a complaint, the police have registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in connection with the incident, which occurred on April 9, an official said.

According to police, the teen's mother divorced her first husband nine years ago and married the accused, with whom she has a son.

On the afternoon of April 9, the accused allegedly sexually assaulted his stepdaughter while his wife was away and threatened her into silence, the official said.

He said that the assault came to light when the mother returned home and noticed a change in her daughter's behaviour and questioned her. The girl narrated the ordeal, following which a complaint was lodged at the Kaij police station.