Amidst the continued BJP-Sena stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra, the Congress MLAs in Maharashtra have reportedly decided to support Shiv Sena in the formation of the government.
According to the report by Times Now, the Congress MLAs who are presently at a resort in Jaipur held a meeting on Sunday and decided to support an alliance with Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar led NCP. The Congress party has decided to send a letter to the NCP regarding the same.
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In a significant development, the Congress legislators in Maharashtra will also be meeting party high command on Sunday in Jaipur to discuss the government formation with Shiv Sena. The Congress party has unanimously decided to support the NCP-Shiv Sena alliance, said one of the 44 newly-elected MLAs of the Congress party, according to Times Now.
Earlier, Shiv Sena had also hinted at the possibility of joining hands with the Congress to form the next government in Maharashtra. Speaking on the government formation in Maharashtra, Sanjay Raut had said, “If nobody is ready to form the government (in Maharashtra), then Shiv Sena can take the lead.”
In an apparent softening of the stand for Congress, the Shiv Sena on Sunday said that while its ideology is different from that of the Congress party, it does not consider the grand old party to be an enemy. The shift in position comes at a time when deadlock between the Sena and ally BJP appears not going away over government formation in Maharashtra.
On Friday, senior Congress leader Milind Deora had voiced similar opinions like the Congress MLAs, stating that the NCP and Congress should now stake claim to form the government with outside support from other parties and independent legislators.
“The Congress and NCP can form govt provided the smaller parties support it from outside. Congress must not compromise on its ideology and value system,” added Deora.
On Saturday, Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had invited Devendra Fadnavis of BJP to form the next government in the state, if they are willing to do so and have required numbers.
Devendra Fadnavis had resigned from the post of the chief minister a day ahead of his term was scheduled to end today. He had decided to resign as the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, which won a majority with 161 seats together in the assembly elections held last month, failed to arrive at a power-sharing agreement. The governor has him asked to continue as acting-CM following his resignation.
In the October 21 polls, the BJP won 105 seats while ally Sena won 56 seats. The majority mark in the 288-member state Assembly is 145. NCP and Congress won 54 and 44 seats each.