maharashtra

Updated: Oct 26, 2019 04:37 IST

Friday was a day of several meetings within the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena parties, which together won 161 seats out of the state’s 288 seats in the assembly, thus ensuring that the saffron combine will return to form the government.

As Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis began consultations within the party on Thursday, several Sena functionaries met Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray on Friday. The party will hold a formal meeting of its leaders on Saturday.

Sources told HT that senior leaders of the BJP including Fadnavis and state unit chief Chandrakant Patil held a late night meeting on Thursday to assess the post poll scenario in Maharashtra, in which the BJP won 105 seats (17 lesser than its previous tally). The meeting went on till the early hours of Friday.

It is learnt that the CM spoke to Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday evening. He also spoke to BJP chief and union home minister Amit Shah and is awaiting a signal from top leadership before commencing talks with the Sena, a close aide of Fadnavis said. Formal discussions between the leaders of the two parties are expected to start after Diwali, Sena functionaries said.

The Sena, in turn, has started putting pressure on BJP for a favourable power-sharing formula. On Thursday, Thackeray held a press conference at which he said, “It is time to remind the BJP about the formula arrived at when BJP chief Amit Shah visited my home....we had decided on a fifty-fifty formula for the alliance.” Thackeray’s son, Aaditya Thackeray who made his poll debut this year, won from Worli constituency.

The BJP is likely to stake claim to form the government after Diwali on October 27. The government must be formed before November 8, when the existing government’s term ends.

Number crunching

The BJP is short by 40 seats to reach the simple majority mark of 145 in the 288-member assembly. Even if gets the support of 13 independents, the party can’t reach the halfway mark. Thus, it will need Shiv Sena’s support to form the government, which has increased the Sena’s bargaining power. Sena party mouthpiece Saamana on Friday stated that “the keys to power are with the Shiv Sena”.

BJP leaders have spoke to the 13 winning independents, well before they begin formal talks with the Shiv Sena on power sharing. “Around eight of these independents are BJP rebels so they are with us. The talks with Sena will begin officially post Diwali,” said the Fadnavis aide. The BJP hoped that the support of independents would work as leverage in the talks with the Sena, the aide said.

The Sena is likely to drive a hard bargain given that they fought on fewer seats than the BJP despite a purported promise of equal seat sharing ahead in the assembly polls. The BJP on the other hand is not willing to split the CM post and is likely to offer the Sena the deputy chief minister’s post along with important portfolios in exchange, BJP insiders told HT.

Chief Minister Fadnavis, while announcing the alliance in February, had said that the allies would “equitably share power and posts”. The Sena could well interpret this to mean that the chief minister’s post would be shared for 2.5 years each between the allies.

Sanjay Potnis, Sena legislator from Kalina in Mumbai, said after meeting Thackeray on Friday: “The keys to power are with the Shiv Sena now, unlike the past when it was one-sided equation. We will discuss the CM post and other key issues in the meeting [on Saturday].”

A Sena MP said that once the formal discussion commences with the BJP’s central leadership the Sena will bring up the chief minister’s post. “Of course, it [CM post] is on the cards; why shouldn’t we keep it. If they (BJP) can give the Muftis the CM-post [in Jammu & Kashmir] why can’t they share the post with us, who are their natural allies?” the MP asked.

Political analysts said that though Thackeray is putting pressure on the BJP for the chief minister’s post, he could settle for less as the Sena is partner with opposition parties Congress and Nationalist Congress Party that has won 44 and 54 seats respectively. Besides, the Sena’s number of seats has also come down from 63 MLAs in 2014 to 56 MLAs in 2019. “Thackeray would put pressure on the BJP for deputy chief minister’s post and key portfolios. He would be mindful that BJP would not let go of the CM post,” Surendra Jondhale, political analyst said.

Meanwhile, it is also likely that Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya, may lead the party in the government. Senior Sena leader and minister in the outgoing government Eknath Shinde said, “Aaditya ji decided to take the plunge in electoral politics and has been successful. It is natural that the Sena workers and leaders would want to see a Thackeray on a big post. There is nothing wrong with that expectation.”

Responding to reports that Congress leaders were in touch with Sena top brass, state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat on Friday said, “First Uddhav Thackeray should decide whether he wants to part ways with the BJP.” The party had not authorised anybody to talk to the Sena, he added.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has already ruled out any plan to support the Shiv Sena to form the government.