Since the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election results were declared, BJP and Shiv Sena have been engaged in hectic parleys on power sharing. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and his party have suggested a 50:50 formula. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, has maintained that the BJP has not made any such commitments to the Shiv Sena.
Huffpost India’s Pavan Dahat said in a report on Thursday:
A week since then (24 October), it’s clear that the tables have turned—not only has the Shiv Sena not attended a single meeting with the BJP yet to discuss government formation, its newspaper Saamna has been harshly criticising the party for everything from the economic slowdown to its reluctance to play ball on seat sharing.
Fadnavis also expressed displeasure over Saamana, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece frequently targeting the BJP, saying its role is to “derail” the talks.
The Shiv Sena on Thursday again indicated that it had not given up its claim on the post of Maharashtra chief minister. “Maharashtra chief minister in that press conference (held after the two parties sealed the alliance) had said all government posts would be equally shared,” PTI quoted a Saamana editorial as saying.
“If the post of chief minister does not come under it, then we need to rewrite the syllabus of political science,” the Sena said.
Under the power-sharing formula that is being discussed, the BJP has offered the Shiv Sena two-three more berths in the council of ministers over the 13 that it had in 2014, according to Hindustan Times. The report also said that the chief minister’s post, along with portfolios like home, finance, revenue and urban development, are not up for discussion.
The two parties have been allies for about 20 years, and even after the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP and the Shiv Sena had differences over seats.
As the two parties continued to be at logger heads a week after the election results, Twitter users found a perfect opportunity to poke fun at them.
(With PTI inputs)