india

Updated: Nov 03, 2019 02:51 IST

The stalemate between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena over the power-sharing formula in Maharashtra continued on Saturday, even as the BJP expressed confidence that it would form the government with its saffron ally by November 6.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar held a closed-door meeting with his party leaders in Mumbai to tap the possibility of forming an alternative government with the Sena. Pawar has asked his party leaders to talk to Sena and independent legislators to see if an alternative NCP-Sena government, backed by outside support of the Congress, was feasible, people familiar with the development said. Pawar is scheduled to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday.

Congress leaders from state called on Gandhi on Friday and suggested that the party should support any move to keep the BJP out of power if Sena was willing to go with NCP.

“State Congress leaders met Pawarsaheb last week and urged him to take initiative for a non-BJP government in the state. Pawar had asked them to get a nod from their party leadership first. We have started talking to all non-BJP elements. However, an alternative government is possible if Uddhav Thackeray is willing to walk out of the alliance with BJP,” an NCP leader said on condition of anonymity.

A BJP functionary, speaking on condition of anonymity, however said that an informal communication between the two saffron allies is likely to resume after the weekend, when both chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray return to the city after touring villages affected by unseasonal rains in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

“Sena has not responded to BJP since Tuesday. We think the back channel talks between Fadnavis and Thackeray will resume in a day or two. We don’t think Sena chief will trust Pawar and opt for a minority government,” the functionary said.

Earlier in the day, BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the issues between the BJP and Shiv Sena would be resolved through talks and the next saffron government would be sworn in next week. He also ruled out the alternative of a Sena-Congress government. “How can Congress and Sena form a government together? They are ideologically opposed to each other. And, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has clarified that his party will sit in the opposition. This mandate is for saffron alliance and we will form government together latest by November 6 or 7,” Mungantiwar said.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut reiterated his party’s demand the chief minister’s post. “We have now cut the ropes and can’t go back. It is not about bargaining for additional ministerial berths or Union cabinet portfolio etc. We are asking them to implement what was promised,’’ Raut said.

A Saamna editorial hit out at Mungantiwar’s statement that if the saffron allies failed to form the government within a time frame, the president’s rule would have to be imposed. “The statement is an insult to the peoples’ mandate in the assembly elections,” said the editorial.