Maharashtra BJP to elect legislature party leader today as power tussle with Shiv Sena over CM post continues

Amid the ongoing tussle over the 50:50 power-sharing formula for the next government in Maharashtra, the BJP Legislature Party has convened a meet on Wednesday to elect its new leader. Incumbent chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is likely to be elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party as the Shiv Sena continues to bargain hard for an equal power share with its senior partner. Fadnavis, who is currently the leader of the House, dismissed the Sena's demand for the top post on a rotational basis and asserted on Tuesday that he will be the chief minister for another five years. [caption id=“attachment_4842811” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. PTI[/caption] He also said that BJP president Amit Shah will not attend the meeting of the newly-elected BJP MLAs to pick the legislature party leader. On Tuesday, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and party’s vice president Avinash Rai Khanna were named as central observers for the Maharashtra legislature party meeting. Amid bickering between the NDA allies, senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil on Tuesday said Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will finalise the contours of the “50:50 formula”. Patil, however, distanced himself from the seat-sharing agreement that Thackeray has been talking about since last week . “That formula was proposed ahead of the Lok Sabha elections (held earlier this year) and I am not aware of it,” said Patil, who became the state BJP president after the parliamentary poll results. According to sources in the BJP, the discussion and agreement reached with the Sena on formalising the alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls was on “equitable distribution of power and not on the post of the chief minister.” Ever since results of the 21 October Assembly polls were declared, the Sena chief has been claiming that the 50:50 formula on sharing of power was “agreed upon” between himself, Shah and Fadnavis ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. However, Fadnavis on Tuesday denied that the Sena was ever assured the chief minister’s post for two-and-a-half years as part of the power sharing “formula”. “There is no doubt in my mind that I will be the chief minister for five years. There is no plan B or C. There is only plan A, and that will work,” he said, responding to the Sena’s hard bargaining. The BJP won 105 seats in the Assembly polls and has been wooing 13 Independents and MLAs from smaller parties to shore up its strength in the 288-member House. The Sena, which won 56 seats, is pushing for rotational chief ministership, an idea rejected by the BJP. Meanwhile, the NCP won 54 seats and the Congress bagged 44 seats in the state polls. With inputs from PTI Also read:  Maharashtra polls: Shiv Sena cancels BJP meet as Devendra Fadnavis denies sharing of chief minister's post as part of pre-poll agreement