Ashok Chavan: 'Situation in Maharashtra will be clearer in two days'

Former Maharashtra chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Friday, November 8, said the political situation will be clearer in the state in one or two days. BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who resigned from the Chief Minister's post on Friday in view of the prevailing political stalemate in the state, took a dig at the party's ally Shiv Sena saying it had made up its mind to go with NCP after results of the Assembly polls were out and that the BJP was shocked over Uddhav Thackeray's remarks that "all options were open" for government formation. 

Speaking to the media Chavan said, "The situation is quite fluid now. We have discussed the matter with NCP president Sharad Pawar, who is our national ally. Since Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has resigned today, in a day or two the situation will be clearer."

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On being asked about the removal of SPG security for Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Chavan said, "This is a wrong decision by the Central government. This is a personal vendetta. The government should do a rethink and restore the security of the leaders." 

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Fadnavis resigns

As the window to form government in Maharashtra closes, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis submitted his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Friday ending his tenure as the Maharashtra Chief Minister. Fadnavis addressed the media soon after submitting his resignation and thanked the people for accepting him as the CM for the last five years. Fadnavis proceeded to slam the Shiv Sena in an extraordinary briefing and alleged that there were no talks of the '50-50 formula' in front of him. He also alleged that he called Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray several times but he never received his calls.

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BJP-Sena deadlock

Shiv Sena has reiterated that it will accept only the 50:50 formula, while BJP - i.e. Devendra Fadnavis - has denied ever having agreed to such a formula. Apart from Sena's portfolio demand, the party has demanded a sharing of 2.5 years in the CM post too, with Aaditya Thackeray - the first Thackeray to contest an election - being the party's pick for the top job.

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(with ANI inputs)