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With less than three days left for forming a government in Maharashtra, BJP State President Chandrakant Patil, and senior leader Sudhir Mungantiwar will be meeting the Governor of Maharashtra on Thursday at 10.30 am.
The term of Maharashtra’s Assembly will get over on Saturday, November 9. If none of the parties can form the government by that day, then the governor can recommend for the President’s rule in the State.
Mungantiwar, who is also the Finance Minister of Maharashtra, told mediapersons on Wednesday that the BJP has a formula which will help in removing all obstacles and placate all the concerned parties. “The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, which has the mandate of the people, will come to power. It will be a piece of good news for the people of Maharashtra.”
However, Shiv Sena is not on the same page with the BJP on this development.
Sena’s spokesperson Sanjay Raut told the mediapersons that if the BJP is claiming to form the government then it is a good thing. They are a larger party but if they have the list of 145 MLAs supporting the party then it must be shared with the Governor.
Raut reiterated that soon a Shiv Sena’s Chief Minister would be appointed in Maharashtra. But he refused to share any more details on the matter.
‘Anything can happen’
On the other hand, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said that the people of Maharashtra have favoured the BJP-Shiv Sean alliance and the mandate is in their favour but still anything can happen at the last moment in politics.
Addressing the media, Pawar said that the NCP’s mandate is to sit in the Opposition as it does not have the adequate numbers. But if it had the numbers then the party would not have taken so much time in installing the government.
On being questioned by the media about the likely support that NCP could give to the Shiv Sena if a BJP-Shiv Sena government does not get formed, Pawar said that the Assembly election was fought by NCP in an alliance with the Congress party, therefore such decisions will also be jointly taken. However, for that to happen Shiv Sena will have to break its alliance with BJP, only after that NCP will clarify its position.
Pawar was speaking to reporters after his meeting with Sanjay Raut, the second one since October 24. Soon after Pawar’s meeting with Raut, Sena ministers attended a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for assessing the crop damage in Maharashtra.
The BJP has won 105 seats and the Shiv Sena has 56 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. With their joint strength along with smaller like-minded parties and independent MLAs, a right-wing government can be easily formed in Maharashtra.
But the Shiv Sena is insisting on a 50:50 formula, under which the Chief Minister’s position is held by each party for two and a half years. The Shiv Sena is also demanding for equal distribution of the portfolios. The BJP has shot down any idea of sharing the Chief Minister position with the Shiv Sena.
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