Week after Maharashtra Assembly election results, no headway in govt formation as BJP and Shiv Sena bicker over power sharing

Mumbai: A week after announcement of results for the 21 October Assembly elections, there appeared no headway in government formation, with allies BJP and Shiv Sena still at loggerheads over the quantum of power sharing. The Shiv Sena on Thursday again indicated that it had not given up its claim on the post of chief minister, saying that equal sharing of power must mean sharing of the top post too. [caption id=“attachment_4330687” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray. PTI[/caption] Adopting a harsh tone, it accused the BJP of enacting “second act” of the “use and throw” policy while dealing with its ally. The saffron allies Sena and BJP are locked in a dispute over the power-sharing formula for the new government. Whatever was decided when the two parties stitched up alliance before the Lok Sabha elections should be implemented, the Sena mouthpiece `Saamana’ said in an editorial. Sena MP Sanjay Raut described as rumours reports that his party has softened its stand on the issue of sharing power in Maharashtra with ruling alliance partner BJP. Raut described reports in a section of media alluding to the ‘softening of stand’ by the Sena as hearsay. “The (reports that) Sena has  softened (its stand), has compromised and relinquished equitable distribution of posts, are all rumours,” he tweeted. “This is the public, which knows everything. Whatever will was decided (between BJP and Sena), will happen,” he added. Maharashtra minister Eknath Shinde was on Thursday elected the party’s leader in the state legislature. His candidature was proposed by party leader Aaditya Thackeray, whose name was also doing the rounds for the post. The election was announced at a meeting of the newly- elected Sena MLAs at party office Sena Bhawan in Dadar area. Sena sources said party chief and Aaditya’s father Uddhav Thackeray was not keen to appoint his son as the head of the Sena’s legislative unit. At the meeting, the sources said, Uddhav Thackeray was apparently dismayed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ remarks that sharing the CM’s post did not figure in the talks between top Sena and BJP leaders ahead of this year’s Lok Sabha polls. Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday evening asked Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to declare a wet drought in the state owing to unseasonal rain in various parts. Heavy post-monsoon showers in various areas in Maharashtra have prompted this demand, Aaditya told reporters after meeting Koshyari at Raj Bhavan with Sena leaders and legislators in tow. Aaditya and other Sena leaders submitted a memorandum to the governor, seeking “all possible help” to farmers and fishermen affected by heavy rains. “We requested the governor to provide assistance to farmers and fishermen who suffered damages due to recent rains. He has assured us that he himself will talk to the Centre,” he said. Asked about the delay in government formation in Maharashtra after the 21 October elections, Aaditya said his party has given all authority in the matter to Sena chief and his father Uddhav Thackeray. “I can’t comment on government formation, Uddhav saheb will have the final word,” he said. Sources in the BJP, which won 105 of the 288 seats in the Assembly, claimed that their party has the support of 13 independent MLAs. Congress general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge attended a meeting of the party’s newly-elected MLAs in Maharashtra at the party office. State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat and senior party leaders Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde were present.  Congress MLAs are expected to elect the legislature party leader in the next four-five days in the presence of central observers, sources said. The party president will announce the name in Delhi, they added. The Congress, hit by desertions by some prominent leaders, including Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, ahead of the Assembly elections, bagged 44 seats, two more than its 2014 tally. A huge banner put up outside the office of the Nationalist Congress Party here said: Maharashtra’s history shows it never bows before the “throne of Delhi”. The banner echoed the remark made by party supremo Sharad Pawar when the Enforcement Directorate named him in a money laundering case in September. “Maharashtra follows the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We don’t bow before the Delhi `takht’ (throne),” Pawar had said on 25 September. Notwithstanding the defections of some prominent leaders, the NCP went on to win 54 seats in the polls, 13 more than its 2014 tally. Meanwhile, in an interesting development on Thursday evening, staff of the Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation removed hoardings outside Matoshree, the Thackeray family residence in suburban Bandra, which read: Only Aaditya Thackeray as CM of Maharashtra.