Sena, BJP continue to spar over 50:50 formula in Maha
MUMBAI:SHIV Sena’s senior leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday accused Union home minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah of keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark about the discussion with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on the 50:50 power-sharing agreement and rotational chief ministership.
Raut’s comments came a day after Shah slammed the Sena for not speaking up when Modi repeatedly spoke about Devendra Fadnavis as the chief ministerial candidate for Maharashtra during the campaign for the Assembly elections. “Even Uddhav Thackeray was saying there would be a chief minister from the Shiv Sena. Why did the BJP not object then,” asked Raut.
“We have the highest respect for Modi and it would have been insulting had we contradicted his statements. It seems that Amit Shah had not apprised Modi of what was agreed in the meeting,” he said. Without naming Amit Shah, Raut said some elements were “hell-bent on creating a rift between PM Modi and Uddhav Thackeray”. He also tried to strike an emotional note saying the room in Matoshree where the talks took place was the room of Sena founder Bal Thackeray and virtually a temple for the party.
While BJP spokespersons did not comment on Raut’s outburst, the state unit released a video clip of a Sena minister, Sanjay Rathod, who, during election campaign, had said he had no doubt that Fadnavis would be the next chief minister. “This video makes it clear that even a Sena minister was confident of Fadnavis becoming the Chief Minister. So, how can they allege that the BJP tried to mislead or lie on this issue,’’ said a party functionnary, who did not want to be named.
When the BJP refused to accede to the power-sharing demand, saying there was no such deal between the allies, the Sena started talks with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which won 54 and 44 seats, respectively. It even pulled out its lone minister, Arvind Sawant, from the Union cabinet, in accordance with a pre-condition for a possible alliance with the NCP.
Governor BS Koshyari invited the BJP and Sena and then the NCP to form the government, but none of them could cobble together the numbers immediately. The Centre on Tuesday brought Maharashtra under President’s rule on Koshiyari’s recommendation.