News Brief
Maharashtra: Uddhav Insists On 50-50 Sharing Agreement But Fadnavis May Have An Ace Up His Sleeve
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
The BJP-Shiv Sena combine has emerged as the winner in the Maharashtra assembly election but for the BJP it may be the beginning of a long windy road of coalition politics.
Unlike 2014, BJP and Shiv Sena went in together with the BJP contesting 164 seats and the Shiv Sena contesting the rest 124. As per latest election commission data the BJP is expected to win 103 seats and the Shiv Sena will be the second largest party with 57 seats.
The Shiv Sena-BJP combine has thus managed to cross the majority mark of 145 with a combined seat tally of 160 seats. Despite being the number one partner in the coalition, the BJP has fallen way short of the majority mark on its own and needs to depend on Shiv Sena for support.
The Shiv Sena which has had a strained relationship with the party in recent years, is likely to milk the situation to its advantage.
Just this afternoon, party Chief Uddhav Thackeray told media reporters that both the parties had agreed upon a 50-50 formula back in February and insists that it must be followed.
“Who will be the CM? It’s a good question. The 50-50 formula was decided. Discussions should be held and then it should be decided that who would be the Chief Minister”, Thackeray was quoted as saying.
Thackeray also made a stern statement that while his party has been accommodating for the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls, it can’t continue this practice.
If Thackeray has his way then Maharashtra will see it getting two Chief Ministers for a period of 2.5 years each, with Fadnavis most likely being BJP’s choice. It remains to be seen who Shiv Sena props up as its face.
Things may not be too simple for the Shiv Sena as Fadnavis may have an ace up his sleeve in form of rebel MLAs.
In a statement made just few minutes ago, Fadnavis claimed that 15 rebel MLAs are in touch with him and the number may increase in the future. If the BJP manages to secure a large chunk of rebel and independent support it is likely to blunt the negotiation power of Shiv Sena.
As numbers stand, there are a total of 29 MLA not belonging to the BJP, Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP.
Earlier there were murmurs of the Shiv Sena possibly ditching the BJP and joining hands with Congress-NCP but it was soon ruled out by Thackeray.
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