BJP minister: 'Ready to fight election again without Shiv Sena'

BJP Minister Jayakumar Jitendrasinh Rawal on Sunday lashed out at Maharashtra ally Shiv Sena for its duplicitous following the Maharashtra Assembly election. Rawal said that the BJP workers in Dhule are furious over Shiv Sena's behaviors and are ready to fight the elections again.

Speaking to the media, Rawal said, "The BJP workers are angry that first, Shiv Sena fought in MahaYuti and then later changed their position and now have started blackmailing us. If this is the case, then we are ready to fight elections again. The public is with the work of Prime Minister Modi, Amit Shah, and Devendra Fadnavis. The workers feel angry over the deceitful behavior of Shiv Sena and this is the same sentiment throughout Maharashtra."

Shiv Sena leaders Sanjay Raut and Ramdas Kadam met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday. Sanjay Raut addressed the media after meeting the Governor for an hour and called it a "courtesy visit."

The Shiv Sena leader said, "We met the Governor on behalf of Uddhav Thackeray and we gifted him a book of Balasaheb. He liked it and looked at the cartoons by Balasaheb and discussed it as well. There were many subjects which were discussed in the meeting. The Governor is an experienced politician as he was a Union Minister and a former CM as well. " Speaking about the delay in the formation of a government in the state, Raut said, "We just told that the government should be formed soon and the Sena is not adamant on anything. Also, we don't know what is taking so long for government formation." The Shiv Sena MP added that Sena said that it is not responsible for the confusion created over the political situation of the state he called it was a "courtesy visit".

READ | Sanjay Raut: 'Courtesy Meet With Governor, Not Politically Motivated'

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has won an absolute majority in the Maharashtra assembly polls that concluded on October 24. The BJP secured 105 seats, while the Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats, Congress has 44 and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged 54 seats in the 288-member House. There has been a power struggle between BJP and Shiv Sena over the seat-sharing in the State assembly as well as the post of Chief Minister. While BJP has declared that Devendra Fadnavis will be the Chief Minister of the State, Shiv Sena wishes the Chief Minister be from its party. Ahead of the election, the party had even portrayed Shiv Sena scion Aaditya Thackeray to be the chief ministerial candidate.

The current term of Maharashtra Government ends on November 8. If there is no conclusion on the formation of the new government before November 7 then the state would go under the president's rule.

READ | Sanjay Raut: Talks With BJP Will Only Be On Chief Minister's Post

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