The stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra continued on the 12th day with no end in sight. Two important meetings, loaded with political agendas, were held in New Delhi and one in Mumbai but no solutions were formulated by the parties.

Shiv Sena continued to hold its position of wanting to have a Chief Minister for 2.5 years out of the five-year term.

Shiv Sena MP and party strategist Sanjay Raut told mediapersons that he had called upon the Bhagat Singh Koshyari and conveyed to him that the party was not responsible for the present crisis in Maharashtra and it is not creating any hurdles in formation of a government in Maharashtra, “Whoever enjoys majority should be allowed to form govt,” he said. Terming his visit a courtesy call, Raut said that the governor gave a patient hearing to Shiv Sena’s point of view. The governor told that any political party can come forward and stake claim to form the government, based on the support of the MLAs, he said.

Since October 29, talks between the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena has slowed down as the latter has been insisting it has insisted on 50:50 formula, whereby a Shiv Sena’s MLA will hold the Chief Minister’s position for 2.5 years. But the BJP is not willing to accept this demand as, it wants a full five-year term for the incumbent Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis. For claiming power and forming a government in Maharashtra, support of 145 MLAs is essential. On Sunday, Raut had claimed that that 170 MLAs are supporting the party, the number could even increase to 175. However, Raut did not share more details.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also called upon the BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi but he refused to discuss any finer details of the meeting. He merely said that a BJP-led government will soon get formed in Maharashtra.

NCP President Sharad Pawar also met Sonia Gandhi but there was no outcome of the meeting. Pawar and Gandhi are expected to meet again in two days.

Pawar said that his party has nor received any formal communication from Shiv Sena for forming the government.

NCP’s senior leader, Ajit Pawar had said that given the simple majority of BJP and Shiv Sena in the assembly, they should form the power, while NCP will sit in the opposition.

with Agency inputs

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