No re-elections in Maharashtra, says Sharad Pawar

There won’t be a re-election in Maharashtra at least for the next six months, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday, while addressing

There won’t be a re-election in Maharashtra at least for the next six months, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday, while addressing a meeting of his legislators at the YB Chavan Centre. The party has also constituted a five-member committee to discuss the power-sharing formula with the Congress.

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The statement was significant considering the talks between the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena on government formation and the President’s rule imposed by the Centre. “The NCP chief said there was no need to panic as a re-election can’t be declared as of now. The Governor will have to wait for at least six months before taking a decision [on re-election]. Our [NCP] talks are on with the Congress and Shiv Sena over giving a government, so everything is fine,” said a party legislator requesting anonymity.

“All newly-elected MLAs were confused and worried about the political instability and imposition of President’s rule in the state. We don’t know what it means? Some of them were also worried about the re-elections. It was absolutely necessary for us to know what was going on and the probability,” said a newly-elected MLA, wishing not to be named.

This is the second legislators’ meeting called by the party in the past two days. On Tuesday, the party had called a meeting of the MLAs to apprise them how they plan to move ahead to form a government with the Shiv Sena and Congress.

Maharashtra has been in a political turmoil since October 24 when the Assembly election results were announced, giving 105 seats to the BJP, 56 to the Shiv Sena, 54 to the NCP and 44 to the Congress in the house of 288, where the halfway mark is 145.

While the BJP and Sena fought the elections together, they had trouble coming to an agreement about the portfolios and a shared chief minister deal, with both the parties hardening their positions over the issue. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari first invited the BJP to form the government on Saturday, but after the saffron party said it was not in position to show a majority, he invited the Shiv Sena on Sunday. The Shiv Sena, however, could not present the required letters of support and sought more time, which was not granted. Subsequently, Koshyari invited the NCP to form the government. The Governor then informed the Centre that a President’s rule be declared.

Meanwhile, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar warned the legislators against defection, saying the three parties had a plan to tackle those who switch sides. “No MLA will leave their respective parties at this point of time. If an MLA decides to take such a step, we (Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena) will come together and will field a joint candidate against him/her in the bypolls. If four of the three parties come together, no MLA can get re-elected,” he said.

The statement comes in response to BJP leader Narayan Rane, who on Tuesday said they will do whatever is possible to form the government. The remarks alerted the political parties, wary after the recent Karnataka developments when 17 legislators rebelled against the ruling coalition (JD-S, Congress), which eventually brought down the Kumaraswamy government.