E-Paper
In Shiv Sena’s new formula for Maharashtra, ‘important’ role for Sharad Pawar
BJP and Sena have been bickering over the last two weeks over a power-sharing formula that involves sharing the chief minister’s post.
The Shiv Sena on Sunday said that the party’s chief, Uddhav Thackeray, will decide on the next Maharashtra chief minister and that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar will play an “important role” in the process.
“[Devendra] Fadnavis’s biggest failure is that the Sena is not ready to talk to him. This means that Uddhav Thackeray will decide who will become the next chief minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar will play an important role in this process,” Sena leader Sanjay Raut said in a column in the party’s mouthpiece, Saamana. “There is overall consensus in Maharashtra that there should not be a chief minister from BJP,” he said.
Also Watch | Maharashtra: Governor invites BJP to form govt amid Shiv Sena’s wrangling
Raut’s column was published a day after Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which emerged as the single-largest party after last month’s assembly elections in the state, to “indicate willingness and ability” to form the government.
The BJP and the Sena have been involved in an impasse over the government formation in the state since the election results were declared on August 24. The Sena has insisted on rotating the chief minister’s post saying that the two parties agreed to it before the April-May national elections as part of a “50-50” power-sharing agreement. Devendra Fadnavis has maintained that no “50-50 formula” had been agreed to. He resigned as the Maharashtra chief minister on Friday amid a war of words between the BJP and the Shiv Sena before the term of the last assembly ended without a new government in place on Friday.
The BJP has 105 lawmakers and the support of 15 independent legislators. It needs another 25 seats to reach the majority in the 288-member House. Shiv Sena, the BJP oldest and pre-poll ally, has 56 seats, the Congress 44 seats and NCP 54.
In his column, Raut underlined that “Maharashtra will decide its chief minister and Delhi should not intervene”.
