As the ongoing tussle for power between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena continues in Maharashta, Sena’s leader Sanjay Raut once again attacked BJP and said, there is no Dushyant Chautala in Maharashtra whose father is in jail and reiterated party’s demand to go with pre-poll agreement of equal partners in power sharing.

“There is no Dushyant here whose father is in jail. Here it’s us who do politics as moral duty and truth. We are observing what is happening and how low people can stoop,” said Raut

Advertisement

Taking a pot shot at BJP-JJP alliance in Haryana, Sena made it clear that they are no less than BJP in Maharashtra as compared to Haryana  where Dushyant Chautala’s father Ajay Chautala was granted furlough for 14 days as soon as JJP extended support to BJP.  Ajay Chautala was in Tihar jail since 2013 as he was convicted in JBT teachers’ recruitment scam along with 53 others.

“There is not Dushyant Chautala here whose father is in jail. We do politics of truth in Maharashtra. If someone tries to keep us away from power, I think it is not politics of truth. We are observing what is happening and how low people can stoop,” Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.

Dushyant’s father Ajay Chautala, who was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after his conviction in a teachers recruitment scam, was granted furlough for two weeks after the BJP and JJP sealed a deal to form a coalition government in Haryana.

He further said, “Uddhav Thackeray has said that we have other options too but we don’t want to do the sin of accepting that alternative. Shiv Sena has always done politics of truth.”

The Sena leader’s statement came a day after Shiv Sena’s Transport Minister in the outgoing cabinet, Diwakar Raote met the state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari separately in Mumbai on Monday. Later on, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met Governor Koshyari at Raj Bhavan.

According to the sources Sena will not back off this time and stick to their demand for a 50:50 pact in the government formation between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. The two parties are engaged in a tug-of-war over the government formation, four days after the assembly results were announced on October 24, as the BJP did not repeat its 2014’s performance and its seats were less than expected, so Sena is keeping up the pressure to be treated a equal partner.

While Fadnavis has confidently reiterated that the BJP-Sena ‘Maha-Yutia’ (grand alliance) will return to power, the ally Sena has been playing hardball demanding the implementation of the 50-50 formula.

The Shiv Sena on Saturday demanded a written assurance from BJP over the 50-50 seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra.

A meeting of 56 newly-elected MLAs of the party was held at Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s residence ‘Matoshree’, where it was decided that a letter on BJP letterhead and signed by senior leadership must be produced to confirm the 50-50 alliance deal agreed between Thackeray and Home Minister Amit Shah ahead of Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.

The party has also demanded that both the allies should get a chance to run the government for 2.5 years each so that Shiv Sena can also have a chief minister.

“In our meeting, it was decided that like Amit Shah ji had promised 50-50 formula before Lok Sabha polls, similarly both allies should get chance to run the government for 2.5 years each so that Shiv Sena should also have a CM. Uddhav ji should get this assurance in writing from BJP,” Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik.

Meanwhile, posters calling Aaditya Thackeray the “future Chief Minister” have surfaced in parts of Mumbai after the poll results, indicating that Sena workers want him to take the top job despite his father ruling the move-out.

The BJP-Sena combine bagged around 160 seats in Maharashtra, way below their expectation of crossing the 200-mark.