BJP-Shiv Sena tussle over Maharashtra govt formation merely for show, says Praful Patel; NCP leader rules out supporting either party

Mumbai: NCP leader Praful Patel on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of giving support to either BJP or Shiv Sena in the state and asserted that a tussle between the two parties over the government formation is only a “show-off”. “The atmosphere was different during 2014 Assembly polls and is different now in 2019. That time, all parties were contesting elections on their own. But this time we fought elections with our alliance partners and will go ahead with them. NCP will not support BJP,” he told reporters here. [caption id=“attachment_7574751” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Praful Patel. Twitter@praful_patel[/caption] He also stated that people’s mandate for NCP is to sit in the opposition and BJP-Shiv Sena should sort out their differences. “Whatever going with Shiv Sena and BJP is just a show-off and they will form the government. They should form the government. If they have differences then they should sort it out. We don’t want to speak to any of the parties. The people’s mandate is for us to sit in the Opposition. If the situation changes, then we will see,” Patel added. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won an absolute majority in the Maharashtra Assembly polls with the former emerging as the single-largest party with 105 seats. Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the elections. The alliance is yet to sort out their differences over the government formation in the state. After the polls, Shiv Sena is adamant about the implementation of the 50:50 formula proposed by BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The formula is a rotational arrangement in which a Chief Minister from each party will split the five-year term equally. Shiv Sena has got the support of at least five independent MLAs including Prahar Janshakti Party chief Bacchu Kadu, his party MLA Rajkumar Patel, Ashish Jaiswal, Narendra Bhondekar and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-backed independent MLA Shankarrao Gadakh. Till now at least five Independent MLAs including Chandrapur MLA Kishor JorgewarJorgewar, Jan Surajya Shakti chief Vinay Kore, Mahesh Baldi, Vinod Agrawal and rebel BJP MLA Geeta Jain have announced their support to BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the recently concluded polls.