india

Updated: Nov 09, 2019 20:41 IST

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday invited the single largest party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to form the government in the state.

The Maharashtra governor has asked outgoing chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to indicate the willingness and ability of his party to form the government in Maharashtra, a communication from the governor’s office stated. In a letter to Fadnavis, the leader of the elected members of BJP, the Governor asked Fadnavis to indicate willingness to form the next government.

With the tenure of the 13th Assembly in Maharashtra set to end on Saturday midnight, the move is a step forward to end the political impasse in the state.

Bickering allies -- the BJP and Shiv Sena had both said that they were ready to form the new government - with Uddhav Thackeray asserting that he wants to fulfil his promise to Bal Thackeray of forming government, which he can do without Shah and Fadnavis. The BJP and Shiv Sena, which had contested the polls in an alliance, secured 161 seats. But owing to a power-struggle between the two parties, they had not been able to stake claim to form the next government.

According to a statement from Raj Bhavan, the governor decided to explore the possibility of formation of government as 15 days have passed since the declaration of the results and no single party or an alliance has come forward to form the government.

Elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly were held on October 21 and the results were declared on October 24. However, even after 15 days had elapsed, no single party or alliance of parties had come forward to form the government.