The Shiv Sena on Monday reiterated its demand for an equal share of power in Maharashtra and asked the BJP to “speak the truth on the 50:50 power sharing formula” agreed between Amit Shah and Uddhav Thackeray.
The demand by Sena MP Sanjay Raut came shortly after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Raote met state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, amid the ongoing tussle between the ruling alliance partners over forming the next state government.
A Raj Bhawan official said the meetings were “courtesy calls” by the two leaders, who met Mr. Koshyari separately. Mr. Raut also told a TV channel that there was “nothing political” in Mr. Raote’s meeting with the Governor.
ADVERTISEMENT
Asked what would happen if the BJP were to renege on the power sharing formula agreed on, in a meeting among Amit Shah, Uddhav Thackeray and Devendra Fadnavis ahead of this year’s Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Raut said, “BJP evokes name of Ram. You (BJP) are going to build the Ram temple. Ram was ‘satyavachani’ (embodiment of truth), so they should speak the truth on this (formula)”.
“You can tear a paper but you can’t delete this record (of the power sharing formula agreement between BJP and Sena),” Mr. Raut said.
In the just concluded State polls to the 288-member Assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, a loss of 17 seats compared to its 2014 tally.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Sena’s tally also came down to 56 seats from 63 in 2014. A resurgent NCP won 54 and the Congress bagged 44 seats