Allies Congress and NCP on Tuesday appeared to be treading cautiously over forging ties with the Shiv Sena, saying they were yet to take a call on backing it to form government in Maharashtra but will hold further discussions.
While Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray desperately reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar for support to form government in Maharashtra, video clips of his father, Balasaheb Thackeray, attacking both parties were circulated online.
In an interview to NDTV in 1999, Bal Thackeray had used the term "scoundrel" while rejecting the possibility of any alliance with Sharad Pawar. "Possibility in politics...what? If at all it is said that it is a game of scoundrels, it is for a man to decide whether he wants to remain a gentleman or a scoundrel. If anybody's trying to become a scoundrel, then? But I will not go along with a scoundrel, whoever he may be," Balasaheb Thackeray had said.
He further went on to say that he would never align with Sharad Pawar's NCP. "The man responsible for toppling the (BJP's) Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, how can we afford to shake hands with him? I will never at least. I will never," Balasaheb Thackeray said in the NDTV interview.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the Congress, the NCP and his party will work out a formula for formation of the government in Maharashtra facing political uncertainty for nearly three weeks now.
"I officially spoke to the Congress-NCP only yesterday (November 11), seeking support for government formation. We will work out a formula for the same," he told reporters after meeting the Sena's MLA-elects at a suburban resort. He said the Sena needs a clarity on the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) just like the Congress and the NCP if a government is to be formed with their support.
