Fadnavis invited to form Maharashtra govt; NCP warns- 'horse-trading'

Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik on Saturday has suggested that Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari should have invited Devendra Fadnavis to prove his majority earlier. He further added that doing it now opens the chances of horse-trading. "Governor should have done this long back. The Governor has invited the BJP to form a government. The governor should make sure that the BJP has a majority vote and that there should not be horse-trading," said Malik.

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Ready for an alternative

The MLA from Mumbai's Anushakti Nagar also expressed the party's willingness to look for alternatives should the BJP fails to form a stable government. "We will vote against the BJP. We are willing to sit in the opposition. We will try to give an alternative government when the government collapses," said the Mumbai NCP chief on Twitter.

However, earlier in the day, NCP president Sharad Pawar had said there was no discussion within his party on extending support to the Shiv Sena. Malik said the NCP's 54 MLAs will meet here on November 12 in Pawar's presence. Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut had previously met with Pawar, raising speculation of a possible tie-up. However, Raut said the met was just a "courtesy call."

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Governor invites Fadnavis to prove majority

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday extended a deadline of November 11 to caretaker CM Devendra Fadnavis to prove his majority should it plans to form a government. Fadnavis is the legislative party leader of the Maharastra BJP and has been extended the invite as the leader of the single largest party in the new Assembly. The BJP has 105 elected MLAs and the majority mark in 288-Assembly is 145.

Its estranged ally Shiv Sena has won 56 seats but has been in a weeks-long tussle over the post of CM and allotment of cabinet portfolio. The Sena has made it clear that it won't compromise on the 50-50 formula agreed upon with the BJP before the general elections in May. The BJP has remained adamant of keeping Fadnavis at the helm for the entire five-year term.

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