Amid political uncertainty in Maharashtra Congress leader Milind Deora today said that “Maharashtra’s Governor should invite NCP-Congress to form the government now.”
Maharashtra’s Governor should invite NCP-Congress – the second largest alliance – to form the government now that BJP-Shivsena have refused to do so
— Milind Deora मिलिंद देवरा (@milinddeora) November 10, 2019
The former state Congress head took to Twitter and said, “Maharashtra’s Governor should invite NCP-Congress – the second largest alliance – to form the government now that BJP-Shivsena have refused to do so.”
Although Deora’s bitter rival Sanjay Nirupam suggested otherwise and said that “we must not think of sharing power with Shiv Sena.” He tweeted, “ In the current political arithmetic in Maharashtra, its just impossible for Congress-NCP to form any govt. For that we need ShivSena. And we must not think of sharing power with ShivSena under any circumstances. That will be a disastrous move for the party.”
In the current political arithmetic in Maharashtra, its just impossible for Congress-NCP to form any govt. For that we need ShivSena. And we must not think of sharing power with ShivSena under any circumstances.
That will be a disastrous move for the party.#MaharashtraCrisis— Sanjay Nirupam (@sanjaynirupam) November 10, 2019
The party has already shifted its 44 MLAs at a resort in Jaipur to save them from any poaching attempts.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday met the party’s newly elected MLAs from Maharashtra at Jaipur, to discuss the political situation in the state as the warring allies BJP and Shiv Sena have not cleared their stands on the government formation in the state. The BJP has though been invited by the Governor to form the government and all the parties are wary of poaching attempts to break other party’s MLAs in the course of any party’s attempt to form the government.
Kharge, who is the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) generally secretary, met the legislators informally to ascertain their views on what stand the party should take about government formation in Maharashtra, senior congress leader Manikrao Thakare told news agency PTI.
“Kharge will then convey the sentiments of the legislators to the party leadership,” Thakare said.
All 44 MLAs, including senior leaders like Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat, were staying at the resort in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan amid fear of “poaching” in view of the stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra.
NCP too is keeping a close watch at the situation. “Governor should ensure if BJP has majority or not, otherwise there will be horse trading. Despite that, if BJP forms the government in the state, we are going to vote against BJP on the floor of the House. If the BJP government falls, in the interest of the state we will try to form an alternate government,” Party spokesperson Nawab Malik was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
Earlier, the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday invited the BJP to form the government in Maharashtra, the BJP leaders will meet today to discuss the future course of action, as its warring ally Shiv Sena seems unwilling to budge down from its demands of equal partnership in government formation and 2.5 years of Chief Ministership for each party.
The Shiv Sena has send all its 56 MLAs at Mumbai suburban resort as a precautionary measure to save them from any poaching attempts by the BJP. Reports suggest that party leader Aaditya Thackeray too stayed with them overnight at the resort.
The BJP with 105 seats in the 288 seat assembly is the largest one and has comfortably crossed the majority mark along with its pre-poll alliance partner the Shiv Sena which bagged 56 seats.
Given the unease, discomfort, and trading of barbs between the pre-election alliance partners the BJP and the Shiv Sena, it seems difficult for the BJP at the moment to prove majority on the floor of the house since the Shiv Sena is adamant on having an equal say in the new government and demanding that the new chief minister be from the regional party.
In the recent state polls, the BJP won 105 seats, while the Sena got 56, NCP got 54 while Congress won 44 in the 288-member Assembly.