Mumbai: The three primary political stakeholders in the Maharashtra state – the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party – held three separate crucial meetings today.
While incumbent chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was in New Delhi to meet party chief Amit Shah and NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Congress’ acting president Sonia Gandhi, Sena’s senior leaders met state governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in Mumbai.
This was the Sena’s third meeting with the governor since October 24, when the state election results were declared. Amid the ongoing tussle between the Sena and the BJP, the process of government formation has been stalled for over 11 days. The state assembly’s term ends on November 9.
Senior Sena leaders Sanjay Raut and Ramdas Kadam visited the governor’s bungalow in Mumbai at 5 pm and the meeting lasted an hour. After the meeting, at a press address, Raut said that although the meeting was “informal” in nature, and that the current political situation in the state was discussed with the governor.
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“The governor’s office has a certain mandate and I don’t have any powers to suggest the governor anything. But among other things, the current delay in the formation of the government was discussed during the meeting,” Raut told the media.
Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Shiv Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut. Photo: PTI
Raut, one of the important faces of the party and also the editor of the party’s mouthpiece Saamana, has been waging a war of words against the BJP and has been very critical of the Fadnavis. In the editorial in Sunday edition, Raut, taking a direct dig at the BJP, said that the political impasse over formation of the new government in Maharashtra is like a “chariot stuck in the mud of arrogance”. He also dared the BJP to impose President’s rule in the state.
The Sena, which secured 56 seats in the state assembly, has been asking for an equal share from its pre-election ally BJP which has 105 legislators. The Sena has demanded an equal share in governance with the CM’s post to one of the party members for two and a half years. Since the talks with the BJP have not progressed, the Sena has also been flirting with the idea of forming a government with the NCP and Congress.
Several NCP leaders including Pawar have been keenly following the talks between the Sena and the BJP. In Delhi, Pawar, soon after meeting Gandhi, told the media that the meeting today was to primarily update its alliance of the several updates in the state politics. Although Pawar has already met Raut last week in Mumbai, Pawar told the media that the party has not been approached by the Sena to form a government. Raut, however, in his Mumbai press briefing has claimed that the Sena has at least 170 legislators supporting it and the number could even go up to 175.
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Besides Sena’s 56 MLAs, and a few independent MLAs, the Sena seem to also be considering NCP’s 54 and Congress’ 44 legislators.
To this, Pawar said, “I don’t know where is the Sena getting these numbers from. At this moment, all I can say is, we don’t have the essential numbers to form the government and we have not been approached by the Sena for any talks.” He added, “Mandate to NCP given by people is to sit in opposition but one cannot speak about the future.”
While most leaders in the NCP have shown keenness in entering into a post-poll alliance with the Sena, Congress has mostly been divided over this possibility. Several senior leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, rubbished such a political possibility, claiming that the two parties differ ideologically.
However, there are a few enthusiasts too. On October 24, soon after it was clear that the BJP had fared worse than was expected, the possibility of Sena- NCP and Congress forming the government was making the rounds. At that time, several leaders including the party spokesperson Sachin Sawant, senior leader Prithviraj Chavan had openly talked of a possibility of forging a “new alliance”. However, other senior leaders like Sushilkumar Shinde, Sanjay Nirupam and Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge warned the party leaders against flirting with the Sena.
Owing to the resistance within the party, several leaders have now decided to take a stand of “wait and watch”. “We need to ensure that BJP is kept out of power in the state,” a senior Congress leader told The Wire. “But we are yet to decide if going with the Sena is plausible and how the new arrangement looks like,” the leader further added.
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Pre-election, BJP’s poster boy Fadnavis had pitched himself as an indispensable state leader and had time and again asserted that he would be back as the state’s CM. But since the party failed to get the desired figure, it is all dependent on the Sena, which is taking full advantage of the situation and is pushing the BJP to give it an equal share.
Fadnavis, however, is refusing to budge. Today, after his meeting with Shah, Fadnavis once again reiterated, “There should not be any doubt about the BJP’s capability to reform the government in the state.”
Although Fadnavis has tried to sound upbeat since the results, he is no longer flanked by Shah and prime minister Narendra Modi. Pre-elections, both leaders, along with several other central leaders, had visited Maharashtra to campaign for Fadnavis. It is believed that the party leadership is quite unhappy about Fadnavis’ performance in the state.