Ramdas Athawale: BJP-Sena should form government without any delay

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, on Monday, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena should come together and form government in Maharashtra as soon as possible. Athawale spoke about his meeting with CM Devendra Fadnavis and said that the representation of the Republican Party of India (RPI) in the Maharashtra cabinet was also discussed. The Union Minister stressed on forming the government in Maharashtra and said that meeting the Governor individually makes no sense. 

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Government should be formed without any delay: Athawale

Ramdas Athawale while speaking to ANI said, "I spoke to CM Fadnavis for around half an hour on Sunday and in that discussion, it was decided that the government should be formed as soon as possible. BJP, Shiv Sena and RPI have been given the mandate to form a government, BJP-Sena should come together and form the government without any delay. Republican Party should also get its fair share in the cabinet of ministers, this was also discussed in our meeting. And after the government is formed, RPI should also have a representation in the committees formed by the ruling government. All this has been discussed but for this to happen, the government needs to be formed first without any delay. The mandate also suggests that neither the Shiv Sena can form a government alone nor can the BJP. Both of them have to come together to form the government. This dispute should be settled as soon as possible they should form the government without any further delay. In the discussion, CM Fadnavis also assured me that we will hold talks and also compromise where required and I told him that Shiv Sena might be a bit upset due to lack of prominent positions at the Centre and we should do something about it."

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"If Shiv Sena is demanding 50-50 share, then we should also think about it and we should soon reach a compromising formula to form the government. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and CM Devendra Fadnavis have known each other for a long time, they have good relations and hence, they should both sit down together and decide what is best for them. On October 30th, there is a meeting between the newly elected MPs and party leaders, the decision will be taken then. The parties met the Governor individually today, but it is of no use unless they can promise a majority which is not possible without each others support and the RPI. We also discussed the fact that we have won less seats this time and the reason behind it and we also need to strategize on how to win more seats next time," he added. 

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