Mumbai: A fortnight after announcement of Assembly poll results, prospects of a new government being formed in Maharashtra brightened on Wednesday, with the BJP leaders slated to meet the governor on Thursday and the NCP making it clear that it will prefer to sit in opposition.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, whose party has refused to give up claim on rotation of CM’s post, said his party chief Uddhav Thackeray is yet to get any proposal from the BJP. The tenure of the present Assembly ends in two days and a special three-day session of the House may be convened next week to swear in the new MLAs, sources told PTI. A resolution to the BJP-Shiv Sena stalemate over government formation is expected and a new dispensation may take office before the term of the outgoing Assembly ends, sources said.
Sources from both parties said back channel talks are on between the two old but often-feuding Hindutva allies and a breakthrough is expected.
“We expect a breakthrough. If all goes well we can have a government by November 9,” a source, who did not wish to be identified, said. However, it was not clear as to what will be the concession offered by the BJP to the Sena if the Uddhav Thackeray-led party decides to bury the hatchet.
A senior BJP functionary asserted the party will not compromise on the post of chief minister. The BJP and the Sena are locked in a standoff over the post of chief minister in new government and sharing of ministerial portfolios. In the recent assembly polls, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 105 seats in the 288-member House.
The Sena won 56. Claiming that the BJP had agreed to a “50-50” formula on power sharing in the state, the Sena has demanded that the top seat should be shared between the two.
Pawar said on Wednesday that the mandate for his party and its ally Congress is to sit in opposition. It is for the BJP-Sena to form the government, he added. A delegation of the BJP, the single largest party in the House, would meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday “with a message approved by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis,” senior leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said.
The BJP and the Sena are locked in a stand-off over the post of chief minister in new government and sharing of ministerial portfolios. (PTI)
