Political observers say that the Sena stand of waiting for the BJP’s proposal shows that it hasn’t learnt any lesson from the way seat-sharing talks went down in last month.

Mumbai: While Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray continues to play a waiting game, BJP leaders are contacting smaller parties and independent MLAs seeking their support for government formation. The BJP’s move is seen as a sign that it intends to form the Maharashtra government without the Sena’s help.

The dramatic events unfolded on Monday when the BJP leaders said that it would not ask any party to offer support for government formation in Maharashtra. On the other hand, Shiv Sena leaders continued to maintain that the party would extend support to the BJP if it asked for it. “When a proposal comes, the party president Uddhav Thackeray will think about it,” Anil Desai, a Shiv Sena MP said.

On Monday, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting of elected party MLAs. “We have suggested four names to Uddhavji to choose one of them as the party’s leader in the assembly,” said a Sena leader, stating that the party president could be leader of opposition if the party decided to sit in the opposition.

Sena leaders said that the party was still undecided on whether or not to support the BJP government. "We are waiting for the BJP to decide on the NCP’s offer of providing the outside support", a Sena leader said.

Political observers say that the Sena’s stand of waiting for the BJP’s proposal shows that it hasn’t learnt any lesson from the way seat-sharing talks went down in last month.

“It looks like that Shiv Sena will wait forever. Ideally, after the results were declared, Uddhav should have immediately announced his support to the BJP rather than waiting for the BJP to make the first move, especially given the fact that the Sena won only 63 seats. It means that he still has an ego problem with the BJP,” one political observer said.

BJP leaders are of the view that the Sena should come forward with a proposal on government formation. "It must understand that we are not at their mercy to form the government as NCP has already offered us outside support for the government formation", a BJP leader said.

“Sena must understand that the things have changed post assembly election results. We have won double the seats of the Sena. It seems that they are not yet able to come to terms with the results and continue to say that the BJP should come forward,” the leader added.

BJP has appointed Union home minister Rajnath Singh and senior leader JP Nadda as central observers to choose the legislature party leader, as decided by the BJP Parliamentary Board.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh was to travel to Mumbai on Monday to decide on who would lead the BJP government in Maharashtra but his visit has been deferred. Now, Singh is likely to come on Tuesday when the Maharashtra BJP is likely to choose its leader of the party, who would then be the chief ministerial candidate.

“After electing the leader of the party, we are expecting the governor’s invitation asking us to form the government as we are the largest party in the state. Then, we will stake the claim and form the government,” a party leader said.

However, it appears that the BJP may not need either the Shiv Sena at all. “As of now, with support of smaller parties and independent MLAs, we have in all 135 MLAs,” said BJP MP Kirit Somaiya.

Another leader said that the BJP would have to prove its majority on the floor of the house. “At that time, we will be able to manage to get the support of 10 MLAs to reach the magic figure of 144 to prove the majority,” he said.