The Maharashtra Government formation became a major issue for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena.
While the BJP refused to form the Government and stake the claim individually, the Shiv Sena party is trying every possible way to mark the majority and stake the claim to form the State Government.
On the 11th of November, Uddhav Thackeray, the President of the Shiv Sena party, reached out to Sharad Pawar, the President of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP,) to discuss an alliance.
After the meeting, Shiv Sena leaders said the NCP agreed to form an alliance and support the Shiv Sena. However, the NCP did not send any official letter regarding the same and said it would conduct a meeting and discuss the same with its ally, the Indian National Congress (INC.)
After the Maharashtra Assembly’s term ended on the 8th of November 2019, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the Governor of Maharashtra, gave a deadline to the Shiv Sena to form the State Government till 7:30 P.M., on the 11th of November. However, the NCP failed to send an official letter regarding the alliance by the deadline.
The INC said it does not want to take a hasty decision and needs time to think about all the aspects before joining hands with its rival, the Shiv Sena party.
Jayant Patil, the President of the NCP in Maharashtra, said the NCP would discuss the matter with the INC and announce their decision by 8:30 P.M., on the 12th of November.
Mr. Patil addressed the media and said, “As per the procedure, the Governor has given us a letter being the third largest party in the state of Maharashtra and therefore, we have suggested to him that we will have to talk to our alliance partner.”
Aaditya Thackeray, after meeting the Governor, said Mr. Bhagat Singh refused to give the Shiv Sena more time to form the Government. He further said, “We have initiated talks with the two parties. Both the parties have expressed their support in principle to the Sena.”
Aaditya also said, “We informed the Maharashtra Governor about our willingness to stake a claim for government formation. Shiv Sena MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) have already issued their support in writing.”
The INC and the NCP are said to be in talks regarding extending their support to the Shiv Sena. Since the majority of seats are held by NCP, the final decision would be taken after the NCP gives a green signal.
The INC said the Party would only issue a letter but the final talks regarding power sharing and others would be decided by the NCP President, Sharad Pawar. The NCP and the INC are expected to take a final decision by 8:30 P.M., on the 12th of November,
Stay tuned for further updates.
