Guv waited 18 days: Shah hits out at Sena

NEW DELHI/MAHARASHTRA: Union home minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Wednesday accused the Opposition of doing “outright politics” over the imposition of President’s rule in Maharashtra, and asked the Shiv Sena why it did not oppose the move to project Devendra Fadnavis as the chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the elections.

Breaking his silence on the political deadlock in Maharashtra , Shah told news agency ANI, “…Before the elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I said many times in public that if our alliance [BJP-Sena] wins, then Devendra Fadnavis will be the chief minister, no one objected back then.”

After the results on October 24, the Sena, a pre-poll ally of the BJP, demanded equal sharing of power and rotational chief ministership. As the BJP did not budge, it kick-started back-channel talks with the Congress and the NCP as the state plunged into a political crisis.

“The honourable governor has never compromised with constitutional norms,” Shah said, reacting to the Opposition’s criticism of the imposition of President’s rule in the state. Shah said President’s rule was necessitated so that Opposition could not accuse the governor of running “indirect BJP rule” in the state.

“The governor invited parties only after assembly tenure ended. Shiv Sena or Congress-NCP did not stake claim and neither did we. If any party has numbers it can approach the governor even today,” Shah said. On the Opposition’s charge that the governor acted in haste and did not give them adequate time to stake claim to form the government, Shah said 18 days were provided to parties to prove their strength.

A senior Sena leader said party chief Uddhav Thackeray will respond to Shah. “He [Shah] took nearly 20 days to speak up on the matter. Even if he thought this was a new demand, he should have taken interest in resolving the issue in the state,” the Sena leader said on condition of anonymity.