The state of Maharashtra is witnessing a major power tussle between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. The BJP has won 105 seats in the 288 member Maharashtra assembly while the Shiv Sena has secured 56 seats. Together the two have 161 seats, way past the half-way mark of 144.Both the parties met the Governor separately.
The two parties had contested in the Maharashtra polls together and have collectively won a majority of seats but ever since the two allies have been fighting over Shiv Sena’s demand for a better deal in terms of power sharing in the state.
The Shiv Sena delegation led by Diwakar Raote met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in the morning hours of Monday while the BJP Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met with him after that. The official word is that both the delegations met the Governor to extend Diwali greetings. The Governor is supposed to invite the leader of the single largest party to form the government, unless there is an alliance that has a clear majority. The Sena-BJP alliance for the polls had won a clear majority with the BJP which emerged as the single largest party. The results of the elations were announced on Thursday and the BJP ended up securing far lesser seats than it expected. This left it more dependent of the Shiv Sena than it would have like to be. Shiv Sena Chief Udhav Thackeray reminded the BJP od the 50-50 formula for power sharing that both the parties had agreed to before the national elections that had taken place earlier in the year. It is estimated that a meeting between Shiv Sena Chief Udhav Thackeray, BJP President Chandrakant Patil, Mr. Fadnavis and Amit Shah will be organised to discuss about the dynamics of power sharing for the state.
The Sena has sought an arrangement where a Chief Minister each from the two parties all split the five year term and wants an assurance from the BJP leadership in writing.
