Sanjay Raut: 'No talks between Bhagwat, Uddhav yet'

There have been no talks yet between RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on government formation in Maharashtra, Sena leader Sanjay Raut said on Thursday. Talking to reporters here ahead of the meeting of Shiv Sena MLAs with Thackeray, Raut said legislators of his party and the opposition Congress and NCP "would not cross sides".

"There have been no talks yet between Bhagwat and Thackeray," the Rajya Sabha member said. Asked if he represented views of his party amid the logjam over government formation in the state, Raut said, "I put forth views of Uddhav Thackeray."

As per the sources, some leaders of BJP are miffed with Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut for his repeated jibes at their party. Since the declaration of results, Raut has been making several statements and tweets targeting BJP. In the last few days, he has made it categorically clear that the next Chief Minister would be from the SS.

On the other hand, BJP is unwilling to concede its alliance partner’s demand for a rotational CM. Sources also reveal that SS supremo Uddhav Thackeray has instructed his party MLAs to stay together in Rangsharda Hotel until any further decision is taken. According to the sources, SS fears that some of its MLAs might be susceptible to being poached by BJP for the formation of government in Maharashtra.  

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Maharashtra power tussle 

The Maharashtra assembly election was conducted on October 21. While BJP contested from 150 constituencies, it left only 124 seats for its ally SS. However, the results declared on October 24 threw up a surprise with the alliance not faring as well as expected. The tally of the BJP came down to 105, from 122 seats which they had won in the 2014 election. Shiv Sena too won from only 56 constituencies. On the other hand, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Cong gained 56 and 44 seats respectively.

Though the BJP-SS alliance has a comfortable majority, a tussle has been going on over the CM’s post. Both sides have been welcoming the support of Independents to leverage their individual position. The delegations of BJP and SS leaders have been meeting the Governor separately. There is increasing speculation that SS is exploring the option of forming the government with NCP and Congress. 

(With PTI inputs) 

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