Mumbai:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the first time in its 59 year old history,\nMaharashtra, India’s second most politically important state and country’s\nfinancial centre, is facing an intriguing, political situation after the\nOctober 21 Assembly elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On October 24, the polls threw up a fractured mandate\nwith the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) getting 105, its then ally Shiv\nSena 56, the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 54 and Congress 44,\nand the rest to Independents and smaller parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After this outcome 22 days ago, a bewildering situation\nhas unfolded in which all the parties – individually and as past or upcoming\ngroups – confidently claiming that they would form the state government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the 22nd consecutive day on Friday, state BJP president\nChandrakant Patil edgily reassured that it was not possible to form the\ngovernment without including its 105 MLAs, plus others making a total of 119\nlegislators, but has simultaneously claimed that the party will adopt “a\nwait-and-watch attitude” for the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the Sena front, its MP Sanjay Raut on Friday,\nfull-throatedly declared, again for the 22nd day non-stop, that “only a\nShiv Sena-led government will take office soon” at his almost daily\ninteraction with media persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its prospective allies the Congress and NCP have\nproclaimed that a government with Shiv Sena as the main partner would be\nsworn-in soon and the nitty-gritties are being worked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amidst all these “morale-boosters”, it is only\nthe newly-elected legislators of all parties and the media persons who seem to\nbe most concerned about the ongoing government formation efforts in\nMaharashtra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, Congress’ state chief\nBalasaheb Thorat and even NCP chief Sharad Pawar, have repeatedly counseled\ntheir nail-biting legislators that “All Is Well”, and there is no\npossibility of the dreaded mid-term elections anytime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the three parties also point out that when they\nneeded just a couple of days’ time, they have now got six months duration\n(President’s Rule) within which to form the government, sending scary thoughts\namong the legislators and rattling the weary media. Presently, sources in all\nthe parties reveal their version of the possible unfolding political plot in\nthe government formation imbroglio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BJP is confident that it will return to power, and\nformer CM Devendra Fadnavis will be able to vindicate his promise – “Mee\npunha yaeen” – with a second term swearing-in. But nobody is willing to\nexplain how it hopes to touch the magic figure of 145 for a simple majority in\nthe 288-member house. In a strange contradiction, the party leaders also darkly\nwarn that any “khichadi” dispensation being dished out by the others\nwould not last beyond a few days or weeks, and again the reins of power would\ncome in the BJP’s control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, if their alliance is finalized, the\nSena-NCP-Congress already command a clear total figure of 154 MLAs (56+54+44\nrespectively), plus some independents and other parties, which could give it a\nsignificant edge over the BJP’s 119. Then why the delays, demand their\nexasperated legislators in private and in party meetings, as also the\nfrustrated media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, of the\nCongress, patiently tried to explain on Thursday – saying that “the main\nchallenge is not government formation, but to sustain it for the full five-year\nterm” by the three prospective allies (Sena-NCP-INC) on the basis of a\nCommon Minimum Programme (CMP). To questions on the BJP’s claims that it would\nform the government, Pawar, Thorat and Raut have thrown the gauntlet –\n“Let them (BJP) go to Governor and stake their claim!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officially, the three potential allies have finalized\ntheir CMP and awaiting the nod of the respective party high commands – Sena’s\nThackeray, NCP’s Pawar and Congress’ Sonia Gandhi. Off records, party sources\nindicate that various power-sharing formulae have been discussed pertaining to\nthe post of CM, the term (30-60 months), the post of Deputy CM, the\nheavy-medium-light ministerial portfolios and the coveted post of Speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are hopeful that Pawar-Sonia will finalise\nthings at their Sunday meeting in New Delhi and an announcement would be made\nsoon on government formation,” said a senior Sena leader. As if all this\nwas not enough, there are wild cloak-and-dagger stories that some influential\ncorporate houses maybe indulging in back-office politicking to ensure their\nfavourite party\/parties come to power in the state. IANS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mumbai: For the first time in its 59 year old history, Maharashtra, India’s second most politically important state and country’s financial centre, is facing an intriguing, political situation after the October 21 Assembly elections. On October 24, the polls threw up a fractured mandate with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) getting 105, its then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,2],"tags":[437,100,247,47,4375,104,4388,101,425,4378,65,241,1736,163,1083,479,4085,243,2024],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5712,"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5710\/revisions\/5712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenews21.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}