Comments
The talks between the BJP and Shiv Sena for sharing power in Maharashtra will resume on Monday, after the newly elected MLAs of BJP and its allies choose the leader of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
BJP President Amit Shah is likely to be in Mumbai on November 1 to hold the final talks with the Shiv Sena. It is expected that on November 3, the new Maharashtra government would be sworn in.
Senior BJP leader, Girish Mahajan reiterate that the government will be formed with the BJP in an alliance with the Shiv Sena.
However, the final decision on the matter would be determined based on the stance taken by Devendra Fadnavis.
The opposition parties led by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has the largest number of MLAs will also be electing its leader today.
On Tuesday, the talks on the formation of Maharashtra government had reached an impasse with the BJP leadership clinging on to the Chief Minister position for the next five years. The Shiv Sena, however, insisted on a 50:50 formula, whereby Shiv Sena’s MLA will be on the high chair for 2.5 years.
Fadnavis had told media persons on Tuesday that a BJP chief minister will be in the office for the next five years.
He had categorically stated that he would be the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra and there is no plan B or C for the Chief Ministership position. “ There is only plan A and it will work," he said.
Meanwhile, MP Sanjay Raut, who is the chief strategist of Shiv Sena had launched a salvo on BJP by saying that there is no Dushyant Chautala in Maharashtra whose father is in jail. "Shiv Sena carries out politics of truth and it is seeing what is happening and how low people can bend to achieve power," he said.
Raut was referring to how the BJP formed the government in Haryana, where it had to take the support of Dushyant Chautala, whose Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) won seats based on an anti-BJP campaign.
A senior BJP leader said that the Sena’s sabre-rattling is for getting good ministerial portfolios.
What can one expect?
The BJP will agree on all portfolios except Home and Finance. But there would be no compromise on the five-year term of the Chief Minister. Even if the BJP’s top leaders agree on the 2.5-year formula as a last resort then fear will always lurk in the minds of Shiv Sena leaders that after 2.5 years, the BJP could dissolve the state assembly and call for the midterm polls.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.