With just a day remaining to the deadline for government formation in Maharashtra, Union minister Nitin Gadkari has reportedly cancelled all his appointments and will fly to Nagpur on Thursday to meet Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.
According to an ANI alert, Gadkari and Bhagwat are scheduled to attend a book release function in Nagpur today.
The development comes on the heels of the Shiv Sena approaching the RSS to help end the deadlock and it informally is backing Gadkari to resolve the deadlock.
Earlier, in a letter to Mohan Bhagwat, Sena leader Kishore Tiwari, known to be close to Union minister Nitin Gadkari, appealed the RSS chief to step into the current political scenario, while alleging that the BJP is not following “coalition dharma”.
Tiwari said the state has delivered a mandate in favour of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. “But the BJP’s failure to follow ‘coalition dharma’ is delaying the formation of a new government in Maharashtra. Therefore, the RSS should intervene and resolve the issue,” the letter read.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday evening met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the right-wing group’s headquarters in Nagpur. According to reports, Fadnavis held over a 45-minute closed-door meeting with Bhagwat and his deputy and RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi on the political scenario in the state and got the suggestion that he must resolve the issue with Shiv Sena soon and form the government in Maharashtra before the verdict in the Ayodhya case.
Reports suggest that RSS would have liked Gadkari to look after the situation in Maharashtra. But Gadkari is reportedly not interested in returning to state politics and would rather continue at Centre.
Both Fadnavis and Gadkari are from Nagpur and in spite of the apparent cordial relationship in front of the camera, the friction between the two is an open secret.
The RSS has apparently put out a roadmap to install Gadkari as the new CM of the state, say sources. This could give a window to Shiv Sena to scale down its demand of chief ministership on a rotation basis.
The Sena and the BJP are locked in a tussle since the Uddhav Thackeray-led party raised demand for the chief minister’s post on a rotational basis and implementation of a “50:50 power-sharing” formula, which entails equal allocation of ministerial portfolios.
The BJP has rejected both the demands, which resulted in the formal power talks, which are yet to take off, hitting a wall.
Following this, the Shiv Sena has remained adamant on its demands and asserted that “swearing-in is not anyone’s monopoly”.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut has time and again claimed that the next Chief Minister will be from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar reiterated his stand that the BJP and Shiv Sena should come together to form the government in Maharashtra and that the people’s mandate wants his party to play the role of opposition.
He also brushed aside speculation that the Shiv Sena could walk out of the NDA and form the government with help from the NCP and the Congress.