Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut Meets Sharad Pawar Amid Tension With Ally BJP
MUMBAI : There seems to be no end in sight to the power tussle in Maharashtra as the Shiv Sena on Thursday dismissed that it had softened its stand on the demand from BJP for “50-50″ power sharing in the state, with the party saying it was in no hurry to form the government.
Senior senior leader Sanjay Raut met veteran politician Sharad Pawar, the chief of Nationwide Congress Get together this afternoon amid a deadlock within the occasion’s energy share negotiations with the BJP. Mr Raut, nevertheless, described it as a courtesy name on the event of Diwali.
Earlier this week, the occasion had met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari as properly, setting off hypothesis and later calling it a courtesy go to. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray additionally met the Governor at this time, however he mentioned it was concerning farmers’ points, not authorities formation.
Amid the tussle, Mr Pawar had appeared to offer moral support to the Sena, saying there was nothing wrong with its demand for timeshare at the top job.”In the 1990s also, there was a 50-50 formula for the Shiv Sena and the BJP. So they have past experience (in running the government). So the Sena can insist, nothing wrong in that,” Mr Pawar had said in an interview with a Tv Channel.
The NCP has declared that it could sit within the opposition together with ally Congress. However that call got here after preliminary reviews of the occasion sending feelers to the Sena a couple of new political configuration.
On the time, the Sena had declared that it could kind authorities solely with the BJP. However its plan to get a flip on the Chief Minister’s publish has since hit a roadblock. The BJP has made it clear that it could not share the highest publish, and was prepared to supply Sena solely the Deputy Chief Minister’s publish.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, addressing his MLAs, said the party was still in talks with the Congress and the NCP and he wanted a “Shiv Sainik to be Maharashtra’s chief minister”. “We are asking for what was committed to us. We had understood their [BJP’s] problem before elections but I want to run my party too,” he said.
“I won’t talk with them till they have clarity on what was committed. If chief minister Devendra Fadnavis says he doesn’t know what was committed between Amit Shah and him, he should get clarity first,” he added.
Shiv Sena MLA Aditya Thackeray says that the delegation met the Governor to request him to provide financial assistance to the losses faced by the farmers in view of the drought situation. “We have requested the Governor that whatever losses the farmers have faced, the government should try to help them. Our priority is to help people,” Thackeray said.
The meeting comes at a time when the Shiv Sena is caught in a power tussle with ally BJP. Earlier, Sena leaders had hinted that government formation would also be discussed with the Governor.
Fadnavis had on Tuesday denied that the BJP and Shiv Sena had come to an agreement over ’50-50’ power sharing in the state, angering its saffron ally which then called off talks. In a bid to assuage the Thackeray-led party, Fadnavis, who was chosen BJP leader in the House, said on Wednesday that there would be no swearing-in without the Sena, which had helped the BJP return to power. The BJP has made it clear that it would not share the top post, and was ready to offer Sena only the Deputy Chief Minister’s post.
Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi was the Maharashtra Chief Minister from 1995-1999. This time, Mr Pawar’s party had played spoiler for the Sena-BJP combine, notching up 54 seats and keeping them limited to 161 seats — way below the 220 they were expecting.
The BJP won 105 seats and the Shiv Sena 56 in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly. With the BJP numbers dropping from its 2014 tally of 122, the Sena is out to use leverage and get the maximum benefit.
(Bureau Report With Agency Inputs ).
