After Shiv Sena fails to provide letter of support, governor invites NCP to form govt in Maharashtra

With no single party or alliance being able to stake claim to forming the government in Maharashtra, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari has now invited the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to “indicate willingness and ability” to form the government, said a press release issued by Koshiyari on Monday on Twitter.

Raj Bhavan Press Release 11 November 2019 / 9.37 PM pic.twitter.com/8ScUIlrizz

— Governor of Maharashtra (@maha_governor) November 11, 2019

“Election to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly were held on 21 October and the results were declared on 24 October. However, despite the passage of 16 days, no single party or alliance of parties has come forward with requisite letters of support from alliance partners to form government,” read the press release. [caption id=“attachment_7636981” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Dhananjay Munde and others meet Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari. PTI[/caption] Earlier, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray met the governor at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai and submitted a letter expressing the party’s willingness to form the government. Claiming in-principle support from the Congress and the NCP, he also sought a three-day extension for submitting the letter of support. The governor declined to accept the request and invited NCP’s Ajit Pawar to form government. “The Shiv Sena leaders met the governor… however, they could not submit the requisite letter of support from the alliance partners,” said Koshiyari. The Sena won 56 seats in the 288-member House to emerge as the second largest party, while the NCP bagged 54 and the Congress 44 in the last month’s Assembly polls. The majority mark is 145. The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party with 105 seats, declined to form government on Sunday.