With the deadlock over government formation in Maharashtra showing no signs of conclusion, Devendra Fadnavis met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur late on Tuesday. Bhagwat reportedly told Fadnavis to stake claim to form government before the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Ayodhya Ram Mandir.
While the BJP has made no official announcement yet, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana claimed on Wednesday that the Amit Shah-led party is ready to talk over the CM post. Quoting sources within the BJP, CNN-News18 reported that Nitin Gadkari may be roped in to resolve the crisis, however, the Union Minister is said to be unwilling to return to state politics.
According to reports, the NCP is ready to support Shiv Sena but with certain conditions. The party has demanded lone Sena MP Arvind Sawant to quit the Modi Cabinet. The NCP has also put forth demand for two Deputy CMs one of whom will be from the party.
There has been no headway in government formation after results of the October 21 Assembly polls were declared on October 24 and Sena and BJP crossed the halfway mark of 145 by winning 161 seats together.
Meanwhile, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP said a political alternative can be worked out in Maharashtra if the Shiv Sena declared that it had snapped the ties with the BJP. Pawar, who is understood to have received a green signal from the Congress, may put the ball in Sena court for extending Opposition support. Since the past four days, the NCP-Congress' only precondition for extending support to the Sena is that the latter must walk out of the NDA and withdraw its sole union cabinet minister to win the Opposition's confidence.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar had said that Raut dropped a text message to him. "This is the first time after elections that he has contacted me. I do not know why he messaged me. His message reads 'Jai Maharashtra Saheb, I am Sanjay Raut'. I will call him in a while to know about it," Pawar had said.
The current term of Maharashtra government ends on November 8. State Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had earlier said the state might head for the president's rule if the government is not formed before November 7. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday made it clear that the post of Chief Minister is 'non-negotiable' but doors were open for all other negotiations.
However, Shiv Sena circles consider it as virtually the doors slammed shut on its face and is now hoping to finalise other options. The Sena has made it clear that the BJP must honour its pre-Lok Sabha commitment on power-sharing including the post of CM for 30 months, but the BJP has countered by saying the Sena has not yet submitted any proposal in the matter.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut reiterated on Wednesday that there was "a clear understanding in sharing the post of CM which finally resulted in the alliance with BJP". He also declared that any attempts to impose President's Rule in Maharashtra would be an insult to the "people's mandate" and "injustice to the people of the state".
Sena leader Kishor Tiwari, who is an advisor of Thackeray, has sought RSS' intervention and wanted Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to be deployed to sort out the power-sharing imbroglio.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had emerged as the single largest party winning 105 seats in the election results announced on October 24. The Shiv Sena won 56, NCP 54 and Congress 45 seats in the 288-seat Maharashtra assembly. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is insisting on the CM as per the ’50:50′ pre-poll deal with BJP, however, Amit Shah is not ready to accept the demand.
(Inputs from Agencies)
