The belligerent Shiv Sena appeared to be in no mood to relent in its ongoing power tussle with the BJP in Maharashtra on Thursday as it disapproved the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ recent statement that the BJP had not given any undertaking to it on the sharing of Chief Minister’s post on a rotational basis and said that he would be the Chief Minister of the State for the next five years.
In what came as a boost to the Shiv Sena on a day when its MLAs elected senior party leader Eknath Shinde as the party’s group leader in the State Legislature, the Opposition Congress indicated that it would consider any proposal received from the Sena seeking its support for formation of Government in the State.
In an apparent bid to spark speculation on the possibility of his party cobbling an alternative the BJP-led Government in the State and simultaneously mount pressure on its senior ally to have its way in the Government formation process in the State, Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut on Thursday met NCP president Sharad Pawar at the latter’s residence “Silver Oak”. Though Raut claimed that he had called on Pawar to offer Diwali greetings, sources said that he and the
NCP president discussed current political situation in the State.
The day began with the Shiv Sena’s official mouth-piece “Saamana” admitting in news column that there was stalemate between the BJP and Shiv Sena over matters relating to the power sharing in the new Government in Maharashtra and reiterating in its editorial the need for its senior saffron ally implementing whatever had been “agreed upon” between the saffron alliance partners ahead of the Lok Sabha polls early this year.
At a meeting of newly elected MLAs held at Shiv Sena headquarters “Sena Bhavan” here, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray made no bones about his displeasure over Fadnavis’ statement that the BJP had not given any commitment to the Shiv Sena about sharing of the chief ministership on a rotational basis and that he would himself hold the CM’s post for the next five years.
“The Chief Minister should not have said whatever he said during his informal interaction with media persons at a Diwali get-together (two days ago). Because of his statement, the scheduled talks scheduled between the two parties did not take place,” Uddhav said.
The Shiv Sena, it may be recalled, had cancelled its scheduled power-sharing talks with the BJP on Tuesday, following the remarks by Fadnavis’ statement.
Notwithstanding the speculation that the BJP had made a proposal to it that it would give deputy chief ministership and 12 to 15 portfolios to the Shiv Sena, the Sena denied that it had received any proposal from the BJP on power sharing in the new Government.
Ahead of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party, Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut denied that his party had softened its stand on the contentious issue of sharing of power in the new Government and said: “There is no softening or shift from our earlier stand. All I said was: the saffron alliance is intact. The talks will take place between the two saffron alliance partners. In my statement, where have I softened the Sena’s stand?”.
“When we said that equal sharing of power, it also includes the sharing of the Chief Minister’s post. The CM’s post is also ministerial position. It’s not some NGO position. It is also a position in the sharing of power,” Raut said.
In an interesting development which opened up the possibility of the emergence of a Shiv Sena-led Government in the state, Maharashtra’s chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the Congress would consider any proposal coming from the Shiv Sena, seeking his party’s support to form a new Government in the State.
Speaking to a television channel, Chavan said:”The BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the State Assembly polls. If the BJP fails in forming the Government in the State, the Shiv Sena being the second largest party will get an opportunity to form the Government. If the Sena takes the lead, attempts to form the Government and formally approaches us for support, we will take up the take up the proposal with the Congress high command which will take a final decision in the matter”
Prithviraj Chavan, it may be recalled, had predicted on the very day of day of Assembly polls results (October 24) that he foresaw “some interesting possibilities”. “Wait for 15 days. You will get to know,” Chavan said. He had indicated that the Shiv Sena would try to form an alternative Government in the State. Informed sources, meanwhile, said that some Congress leaders, including Ashok Chavan, had met Pawar at the latter’s Mumbai residence “Silver Oak” and discussed the current political situation in the state.
Pawar, who had in the past said that the mandate in the Assembly polls was for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and that his party preferred to sit in the Opposition, reportedly asked the State Congress leaders to first obtain a go-ahead from their party high command so that both the Opposition parties (Congress and NCP) could sit across and decide on what was to be done.
Earlier at the Shiv Sena Legislature Party meeting, Yuv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray proposed the name of senior party leader Eknath Shinde for the group leader’s post in the State Legislature. Shinde was unanimously elected as the leader of SSLP leader.
At that meeting, another senior Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu was elected as the chief whip of the SSLP.