New Delhi:
BJP national president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday made it clear that his party won't accept Shiv Sena's "new demands". In an interview to news agency ANI, Shah said that during the election campaigns PM Modi and he said this several times that Devendra Fadnavis will be the Chief Minister and the Sena didn't object at that time.
"Before elections PM (Modi) and I said many times in public that if our alliance wins then Devendra Fadnavis will be the CM, no one objected back then. Now they have come up with new demands which are not acceptable to us," Shah said.
The BJP president said that the Opposition parties were trying to gain sympathy by saying that they were not given fair chance by the Governor to form the government. "They can still stake claim to form the government. Those who have the required numbers can go to the Governor and form government," Shah said.
"Kapil Sibal Making Childish Arguements"
Refering to senior Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal's remarks that they were 'denied chance to form government', Shah said that he was making "childish arguements". "Even today if anyone has the numbers they can approach the Governor. The Governor has not denied chance to anyone. A learned lawyer like Kapil Sibal is putting forth childish arguments like ‘we were denied a chance to form Govt’," the Home Minister said.
How Maharashtra Political Crisis Unfolded
The BJP and the Shiv Sena had fought Maharashtra Assembly elections together. However, after the results, Shiv Sena asked BJP to "fulfill' its promise of equal power share, according to which, both parties will have CMs for 2.5 years. The BJP, however, denied Sena's demand, saying that no such promise was made to them before the elections.
The Sena, refused to relent and gave a major jolt to the BJP by reaching out to the NCP and the Congress to form government in the state. The NCP had asked Sena to exit NDA and that its MP Ashok Sawant must resign from the Modi Cabinet if they want alliance. After days of uncertainty, the Governor invited BJP, which emerged as the single largest party with 1,5 seats, to stake claim to form the government.
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The BJP, however, refused and the Governor then moved to Sena, the second largest party with 56 seats, and gave them 24 hours to prove their ability to form the government. The Sena, however, failed to provide the requisite letters of support from the NCP and the Congress. While the NCP was ready, the Congress was reluctant to support the Sena given their history of being adverse to each other's ideology.
The Sena had then demanded the Governor 48 hours to gather the required numbers but he denied and recommended President's rule in the state. Earlier in the day, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had met Congress leaders and said that their talks were going on the right track. The Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress are not said to be working on a common minimum program to form their coalition government.
