Mumbai:
State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrakant Patil on Tuesday reiterated that the next government will be that of the BJP led Mahayuti headed by Devendra Fadnavis as its chief minister. Maintaining that the doors of the BJP were always open for talks with Sena, he added that the BJP has not received any proposal from the Sena on forming the next government in the state.
In a swift rejoinder to Patil’s remarks, senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut too argued that there was no new proposal from the Sena side. He maintained that the Sena is firm on equal sharing of the Chief Ministers post and added that until and unless the BJP gives it in writing then only further talks can be held.
Raut said that the Sena proposal is just one line proposal, “whatever has been decided earlier, give it. Uddhav Thackeray has said honor the word given and give it while forming the government. We do not want one extra post or one more cabinet berth. NCP chief Sharad Pawar can say there is no proposal from the Sena, because before polls nothing was decided with the NCP. The same is not true with the BJP.”
He further added that since the stalemate over government formation is continuing, some people due to their adamant stand are pushing Maharashtra towards Presidents Rule. Raut stated that the people have given their mandate to the Mahayuti and that will have to be honored. Meanwhile, RPI-A leader and Union Minister for Social Justice, Ramdas Athawale called on his union cabinet colleague, senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari to urge him to intervene to end the stalemate.
Speaking to newspersons after state BJP core committee meeting, Patil stated that the people have given their mandate to the BJP-Sena alliance and we will honor that mandate and form the government. Senior BJP Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar remarked that the good news about government formation can come anytime soon. Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has ruled out the prospects of Congress supporting the Sena’s bid to form a government in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde called on Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday evening to apprise him of the current political scenario in the state. On the other hand preparations are underway at Vidhan Bhavan for the conduct of the three day special session of the state legislature wherein the newly elected 288 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) will be administered oath of membership by the pro-tem Speaker. The term of the 13th legislative assembly ends on November 9 and before that ideally the new government should be sworn-in.
Amidst talks of possible imposition of Presidents Rule in the state if the impasse over government formation is not broken, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Balasaheb Thorat argued that no Congress MLA will split from the party. Whereas, state Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Jayant Patil remarked that 80 percent of those who had defected before the assembly elections are now defeated. Referring to the defection of former Satara Lok Sabha MP Udayanraje Bhosale, Patil sarcastically remarked that the NCP has somewhat developed an expertise in defeating party deserters. (IANS)
