Next Maha govt soon? BJP to meet guv today

MUMBAI: The impasse over government formation in Maharashtra appeared to be nearing its end, with the Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday saying it will not ally with the Shiv Sena to form a government and the Bharat i ya Janata Party ( BJP) announcing that a delegation of its leaders will meet the governor a day after.

With the term of the current Maharashtra Assembly ending on November 9 and no official statement on resolution of the BJP-SENA stand-off over power sharing, a delegation of the BJP, the single largest party in the House, would meet governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday.

A delegation of the BJP, to be led by state unit president Chandrakant Patil, will meet Koshyari “with a message approved by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis,” senior leader and state minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told reporters outside Varsha, the CM’S residence.

“The details of the meeting with the governor will be shared with media later,” Mungantiwar said.

“There will be good news any moment over the government

formation in Maharashtra,” the BJP leader was quoted as saying by ANI.

Earlier in the day, NCP chief Pawar said it was the BJP-SHIV Sena alliance that had been given the mandate to form the government in the state elections and nudged the two allies to quickly work out the details and not lead the state into a constitutional crisis.

Pawar, a four-time chief minister, also brushed aside speculation that the Shiv Sena could walk out of the NDA and form the government with help from the NCP and the Congress

“This alliance (between the Shiv Sena and BJP) has been in existence for 25 years. How can they separate now…,” he said at a press conference in Mumbai. The 78-year-old veteran also predicted that the two saffron parties will come together to form the government “today, tomorrow or the day after”, but they will.

This is the first time that the Maratha strongman has unequivocally spiked any possibility