Former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday said that if Shiv Sena goes to the state leaders with any proposal they will discuss the matter with the top leadership in Delhi. He, however, said that no such proposal has been received from Sena yet. Chavan also wondered that if both alliance partners can’t trust each other then how are they going to govern the state.
“If Shiv Sena comes to us with a proposal, we will put that proposal before our high command and discuss it with the allies as well. No such proposal has been given by Shiv Sena yet. BJP and Shiv Sena should tell Maharashtra voters what was decided between them. If they have so much distrust between them, how can they form the government?” the Congress leader said.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are yet to begin talks on government formation. Sena claims that the saffron party had agreed to share power equally in the state so it should offer the top post to it for half the tenure. However, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis today said that no such promise was made to Sena and his party will occupy the highest chair in Maharashtra.
Following this, Shiv Sena chief Udhhav Thackerey suspended a meeting with the BJP scheduled to discuss government formation. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that discussions between BJP-Shiv Sena had been scheduled for 4 pm today. “But if the chief minister himself is saying that the ’50-50 formula’ was not discussed then what will we even talk about? On what basis should we talk to them? So Uddhav ji has canceled today’s meeting,” he added.
Commenting on the development, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil today said that party president Amit Shah will talk to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and bring clarity on what was discussed on rotational chief ministership.
Earlier, Sena had said that if the BJP did not accept its demand then it had other options on the table. In the assembly election, the BJP bagged 105 seats while Sena won 56. The Congress-NCP alliance together won 98 seats.