Shiv Sena will form Maha government soon: Raut
IMPASSE In its mouthpiece, party accuses BJP of announcing Sena ouster NDA without talks
MUMBAI: As the suspense over the formation of the government in Maharashtra continued, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut asserted that a ‘strong and stable’ government will be formed in Maharashtra by his party soon. The statement came a day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, said they did not discuss a possible alliance with the Sena.
“A Shiv Sena-led government will be formed in Maharashtra. It will be a stable, strong and effective government... We want Uddhav Thackerey to lead the government,” Sanjay Raut told a press conference in New Delhi.
In a stinging attack on ex-ally Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, the Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ went back in time to remind the BJP of its roots using ‘Hindutva’ and ‘Nationalism’ to drive home the point.
Accusing the BJP of announcing the Sena’s ouster from National Democratic Alliance (NDA) without any talks, the editorial said, “we supported Hindutva at a time when nobody touched it… when many of you were not even born”. It further asked: “who are the they (BJP) to expel Shiv Sena from the NDA?”
“Those who announced our ouster from the NDA must take lessons in history. We are the ones who powered the Sangh ... When Balasaheb Thackeray, AB
Vajpayee, LK Advani, Parkash Singh Badal and George Fernandes laid the foundation for the NDA, many of the present leaders were nowhere...” the editorial in Tuesday’s edition said.
The Sena has been in talks with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress after it broke up with the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party in last month’s state elections, over its refusal to share the chief minister’s post.
President’s rule was imposed in Maharashtra on November 12 after the three parties — the Sena on one side and the NCP-CONgress on the other — were not able to conclude their negotiations on the power-sharing pact. The NCP and the Congress combine has 98 seats in the 288-member assembly, but is widely believed to be okay with the prospect of a Sena chief minister.
The Sena leader’s vote of confidence for the alliance between the three parties came a day after Pawar added to the confusion over the power play in Maharashtra. Pawar told reporters that he had only briefed Sonia Gandhi about the current political situation in Maharashtra and underlined that a possible common minimum programme (CMP) for an alliance with Sena did not figure during his meeting with Gandhi. “There was no talk of government formation in our meeting; this was about discussing the Congress and the NCP.”
Sanjay Raut said there was no “confusion” over the alliance with the NCP and the Congress and government formation. He also came up with his interpretation of Pawar’s redirecting questions about government formation to the Sena camp.
Pawar did not say anything wrong when he said Shiv Sena should be asked about government formation, Raut said.
He explained. “Shiv Sena is the largest party and the government will be formed under the leadership of Shiv Sena so there is nothing wrong in what Pawar saheb said... It will take a 100 years for you to understand what Pawar saheb says,” Raut said.
The Shiv Sena leader had, on Monday, rushed to meet Sharad Pawar after his meeting with Sonia Gandhi. Raut claimed politics or government formation wasn’t on the top of his mind at this meeting, but the plight of farmers. Raut said he had asked Pawar to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the farmers’ distress in the state due to unseasonal rains.
Raut also slammed union minister and RPI leader Ramdas Athawale for attempting to negotiate a power- s haring f ormula between the Sena and the BJP. Athawale had on Monday gone public with his effort to broker peace between the Shiv Sena and the BJP. He had claimed that Raut was open to considering his suggestion that the BJP should keep the chief minister’s chair for three years and let the Sena rule for the remaining two.
“He is an MOS in the central government. He should focus on himself and not worry about Shiv Sena. We don’t need anyone’s interference,” Raut said.