The BJP has adopted a wait and watch attitude over the Shiv Sena’s assertions that it would prefer to form a government in Maharashtra with the help of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) than give up its demand of a 50-50 split of the chief ministerial tenure with its long term ally.
Caretaker Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday arrived in Delhi to meet with Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah, ostensibly to ask for more relief for the flood-hit districts of the State, but issues related to government formation was also on the agenda.
Mr. Fadnavis also met BJP’s election in-charge for the State Bhupendra Yadav after meeting Mr. Shah. According to top sources in the party, it has decided to adopt a wait and watch policy with regard to government formation, and also ruled out prospects of a swearing-in ceremony either on November 5 or 6. “The party leadership is firm on the fact that there will be no rotational chief ministership as demanded by the Shiv Sena. There can be some talk on ministerial portfolios but even in that the Home Ministry is something that the BJP is keen to retain,” said the source.
The Assembly poll results were announced on October 24, with the BJP getting 105 seats and the Sena 56, both less than in 2014. While they had a pre-poll alliance, trouble began with the Sena asking the BJP to enforce a rotational chief ministership, failing which, it said, it would not be averse to forming a government with the support of the NCP and the Congress. While the Congress and the NCP are yet to take a call on this, after initially rejecting the proposition, the BJP has dug its heels in.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Sena leader Sanjay Rout met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and described it as a courtesy call.
After Mr. Fadnavis’s meetings in Delhi and that of NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the action now shifts back to Mumbai.
