Maharashtra

that a Fadnavis-led government will be formed soon,” he said.

The BJP and the Sena are locked in a bitter tussle over sharing of the post of chief minister and ministerial portfolios in new government, even 12 days after the assembly poll verdict handed them enough seats to cobble up a coalition government.

The ruling BJP and the Sena had won 161 seats together in the 288-member House, much above the halfway mark of 145.

The Sena had called off a meeting to hold formal talks with the BJP on October 29 after the chief minister rejected Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s claims that a formula had been “agreed upon” on “equal sharing of power” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections held in AprilMay this year.

High-profile meetings in New Delhi on Monday between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his Congress counterpart Sonia Gandhi, and the one between Fadnavis and BJP chief Amit Shah had failed to give any indication of breaking the logjam over government formation.

Raut r e i t e r at e d t hat t he state’s next chief minister will be from his party.

He said the politics of Maharashtra was changing and his party would win in its fight for justice.

“The decision on Maharashtra will be taken in Maharashtra and the chief minister will be from the Shiv Sena,” Raut said.

He told a TV channel later that it was “very understanding” of the BJP to broach the subject of sharing of Maharashtra CM’S post for 2.5 years.