Maharashtra govt formation Updates: Shiv Sena to skip NDA meet on Sunday; nobody can claim ownership rights on alliance, says Sanjay Raut

Seating arrangement of Shiv Sena MPs in Parliament changed

Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai will now sit along with the rest of the Opposition MPs in the Parliament, reports ANI.

Sharad Pawar to meet Sonia Gandhi in Delhi tomorrow

Even as the meet between the three-party delegation and Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was cancelled, News18-Lokmat reported that NCP chief Sharad Pawar is scheduled to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Sunday.

NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena meeting with Bhagat Singh Koshyari postponed

The meeting of the three-party delegation of the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena with Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, which was scheduled to take place at 4.30 pm on Saturday, has been postponed till further notice, reports ANI. 

The meeting was reportedly called to discuss issues of farmers’ distress and agrarian crisis in the state.

BJP leaders meet to discuss farmers issues

BJP MLA from Bandra West Ashish Shelar said that the meeting with all party leaders in Mumbai on Saturday will be held to reach out to 90,000 booths and in order to strengthen them. 

“From district to booth leaders, MPs and MLAs, all will attend the meeting,” BJP MLA from Bandra West Ashish Shelar was quoted as saying by ANI.

The party’s MLAs and MPs will be meeting farmers to provide them immediate relief, he added.

Fadnavis calls on Maharashtra guv to release funds for farmers

Devendra Fadnavis, former Maharashtra chief minister, on Friday called on Bhagat Singh Koshyari and urged him to release funds for the farmers affected by unseasonal rains.

Fadnavis also sought reopening and smooth functioning of the CM Relief Fund through the governor’s office to ensure timely help for needy persons as the state was currently under President’s Rule. He claimed that the governor had accepted both his demands.

Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena to meet at 4.30 pm 

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress and Shiv Sena are scheduled to meet Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at 4.30 pm on Saturday to discuss farmers distress and unemployment.

The meeting comes a day after the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena agreed on an alliance to form the government in Maharashtra. According to sources, the Congress and the NCP will get to appoint one deputy chief minister each from their ranks. The Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress will get 14, 14, and 12 ministers, respectively.

Draft common minimum programme to focus on agrarian crisis, unemployment

The draft common minimum programme (CMP) focuses on farmers distress and measures to tackle unemployment, a senior Congress leader was quoted as saying by PTI.

The politician, who did not wish to be named, said “Inclusive development and justice to all sections of the society is the criteria on which we will work if the CMP is approved by the leadership of all three parties.”

Rift between BJP and Shiv Sena can impact Mumbai mayor polls on 22 Nov 

The break up of the BJP-Shiv Sena​ alliance in Maharashtra may have an impact on Mumbai’s mayoral polls scheduled for 22 November.

In the 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, the Sena had won 84 corporator seats while its then ally BJP was a close second with 82 seats in the 227-member civic house. The BJP had then extended support to the Sena and its leader Vishwanath Mahadeshwar was elected mayor.

Mahadeshwar’s two-and-half year term ended in September, 2019, but he was given an extension till November in view of the state Assembly polls held on 21 October.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena will lead Maharashtra for next 25 years, claims Sanjay Raut 

Sanjay Raut also stressed that Maharashtra’s next government will be led by Shiv Sena, and that the common minimum programme (CMP) — which is to be forwarded to the high commands of all three parties — will be in the “state’s interest”.

The Uddhav Thackeray-headed saffron party will lead the government in Maharashtra for the next “25 years” and not just five years, Raut claimed. The Rajya Sabha MP was responding to questions on whether his party will share the chief minister’s post with the NCP and the Congress

Maharashtra BJP leaders meeting underway 

Meanwhile, meeting of Maharashtra BJP leaders is currently underway in Mumbai. Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and party’s state chief Chandrakant Patil are also present. 

RSS has a vision to rebuild nation, not limited to forming govt: Nitin Gadkari in indirect reference to political stalemate in Maharashtra 

Without making a direct reference on the current political deadlock in Maharashtra, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said that the vision of the RSS and its affiliated organisations is not limited to “forming government” but it is more about “nation-building”.

The BJP leader was speaking at a function organised by the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in Pune.

“We have a clear vision, and it is not limited to forming government or making anyone chief minister or prime minister. We have a clear vision about our ideology and we should work for rebuilding the nation,” Gadkari said.

Shiv Sena will not attend NDA meet in Delhi: Sanjay Raut 

Ahead of Winter Session of Parliament, which is scheduled to be conducted from Monday, Sanjay Raut said Shiv Sena will skip the National Democratic Party (NDA) meeting in Delhi. 

The Narendra Modi government is set to push for the passage of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill , a key BJP plank which is aimed at granting nationality to non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries, in Parliament’s Winter Session starting from Monday.

The government has listed the bill in its items of business for the session, official sources said.

Advent of new weather is making me forget of old pain: Sanjay Raut takes dig at BJP 

Tweeting a motivational Hindi couplet, firebrand Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut once again took a swipe at the BJP. The 57-year-old politician said that the advent of ’new weather’ is making him forget about ‘old pain’.

Earlier on Thursday, Raut stressed that the Sena can “neither be defeated nor be afraid” while blaming BJP chief Amit Shah over the impasse in government formation in Maharashtra.

“Ab haarna aur darna manaa hai,” the Rajya Sabha member and Sena’s spokesman tweeted, a day after he was discharged from the Lilavati Hospital, where he underwent an angioplasty procedure on Monday.

CM post will be given to Shiv Sena, says Nawab Malik even as Sharad Pawar remains non-commital

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik on Friday said the chief minister’s post will go to the Shiv Sena. “The chief minister will be from the Shiv Sena. It walked away from the Mahayuti (grand alliance) on the issue of the chief minister’s post. It is our responsibility to respect its sentiment,” Malik said.

However, Sharad Pawar remained non-committal on the topic of who will be named as the chief minister. “If someone asks for the chief minister’s post, then we will think about it,” NCP chief said.

RECAP | Anything can happen in cricket and politics: Nitin Gadkari implies govt formation in Maharashtra is far from settled

The editorial also comes a day after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari compared the politically stalemate in Maharashtra to a game of cricket and implied that government formation in the state was far from settled.

“Anything can happen in cricket and politics. Sometimes you feel you are losing the match, but the result is exactly the opposite,” Mr Gadkari said, mere days after the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to give the Sena-Congress-NCP alliance extra time to work out a power-sharing deal and form the government.

Intention of horse-trading stand exposed: Shiv Sena takes a swipe at BJP after saffron party exudes confidence

Taking a swipe at the BJP, the Shiv Sena alleged that the saffron party, who now exuded confidence in forming government in Maharashtra after backing off initially, made its intention of horse-trading under the guise of President’s rule evident.

In its mouthpiece Saamana, Sena also hit out at former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over his remark that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition won’t last beyond six months, saying the new political equation was giving “stomach ache to several people”.

Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil had on Friday said that they will soon form government in the state, claiming that his party can count on support of 119 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly.

“Those with 105 seats had earlier conveyed to the governor that they do not have the majority. How come are they now claiming that only they will form the government?” Sena said in Saamana.

“…the intention of horse-trading stand exposed now. The lies of those promising transparent governance are becoming evident now,” it said, adding that “unethical” ways do not suit the tradition of the state.

Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress to meet Governor at 4.30 pm to discuss farmers distress 

The three parties – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – are also likely to meet Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday at 4.30 pm to discuss the ‘wet drought’ facing the state’s farmers.

News18 India quoted NCP chief spokesman Nawab Malik who dismissed the media reports that suggested that the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena will stake claim to form government in their meeting with Koshyari on Saturday.

He said, “Yes, we are going to meet the governor tomorrow. But any reportage suggesting that it is to stake a claim for government formation is false. We are meeting the governor because the administration of Maharashtra is at a standstill since the imposition of President’s Rule. Several applications for funds from chief minister’s relief funds are pending. Farmers are suffering. So we will meet government to discuss on these issues.”

Impasse over Maharashtra govt formation likely to end

A three-party coalition of Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress, a new experiment in Maharashtra involving political parties with different ideologies, seems to finally materialize on Friday when Sharad Pawar said that he will ensure the formation of a stable government which will be development-oriented.

The three parties have already prepared a draft common minimum programme (CMP) that will guide their fledgling coalition’s agenda in the state, where politics has broadly revolved around BJP-Sena and Congress-NCP blocs in the last two decades.