NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis could take oath of office for his second term on Thursday or Friday, with the BJP hopeful that its warring partner Shiv Sena will come around by not pressing its demand for a 50:50 split in ministerial berths and rotational chief ministership.BJP sources expressed the hope that Sena will join the government even as the verbal clash and claims between the saffron allies showed no signs of letting up. The BJP brass seemed ready to wait for sentiments to subside, confident that the logic of numbers would prevail in settling the power-sharing pact.“Fadnavis will take oath as CM on October 31 or November 1 and we are hopeful the Sena will join the government,” a source said. On Tuesday, Fadnavis himself struck a confident note, saying he will be CM again and that there had been no “50:50” agreement with the Sena. Soon after Fadnavis’s statement, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray cancelled a meeting scheduled at 4pm with BJP to discuss government formation.Fadnavis also expressed displeasure over Sena mouthpiece Saamana’s frequent targeting of BJP, saying its role was to “derail” talks. “There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that it will be a BJP-led government for the next five years,” Fadnavis told mediapersons at his official residence Varsha in Mumbai.In response, Sanjay Raut , executive editor of Saamna and Sena MP, said, “There is no Dushyant (Chautala) here whose father is in jail,” implying that the Sena could not be pressured into finalising an agreement.BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday appointed agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna as observers for the Maharashtra legislature party meeting scheduled on Wednesday where Fadnavis is to be elected as legislature party leader. He might then approach governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari with a government formation request.Sources said the Sena is aware that BJP will not agree to the condition of rotational chief ministership and 50:50 sharing of ministerial posts, though there might be hard bargaining on portfolios. BJP leaders feel the Sena is reconciled to BJP not accepting the sharing of the CM’s post and might be looking at the deputy CM’s post for itself.“The Sena’s major objective is to seek the deputy CM’s post, possibly for Aaditya Thackeray, but the state BJP is reluctant to relent on that demand too. However, the main bargaining will be about distribution of portfolios,” said a Sena leader, who added that such issues are to be expected.The meeting cancelled by Uddhav on Tuesday was to be attended by Union minister Prakash Javadekar and Bhupendra Yadav from BJP, while Sena was to have been represented by Subhash Desai and Sanjay Raut, the Sena leader said.Clarifying the BJP’s position on sharing of the CM’s post, Fadnavis said, “We never gave such an assurance. In fact, there was a proposal from Sena for the CM’s post, which was deliberated and decided on by Uddhav Thackeray and Amit Shah, and as far as I know, no such assurance was given.” Fadnavis said Sena may also wish for the CM’s post for five years, but there was a difference between “wishing and getting”.“The government will be formed under the BJP’s leadership only. I don’t need a Plan B, we have Plan A, and we will go with that. We will go with the Sena,” he added.Asked if Aaditya Thackeray would be made deputy CM, Fadnavis said they had not received any such formal proposal from Sena yet. “Once we get a proposal, we will sit and decide,” he said.With Sena demanding key portfolios, Fadnavis said they will take a reasonable view of their demands and will not be very rigid during negotiations. “We will decide all this on merit,” he noted.On Saamana’s criticism of BJP, Fadnavis said, “It is upsetting when Saamana writes such articles without any reason. Even Congress and NCP don’t speak of the government like this. If they have the guts, they should write the same way against Congress and NCP.” He also said that for BJP, “Sanjay Raut is inconsequential, but all those articles send a wrong message to the people.” Raut, however, said, “My party is not asking for anything wrong, only for implementation of what was decided before the elections. There is no need for Fadnavis to bare his fangs while making such statements.”On the question of whether he felt NCP chief Sharad Pawar was man of the match in the assembly elections, the CM said BJP was not getting due credit for its win. “We had said we will get first rank and will be in merit (list), but we got first-class-first rank. No one is talking about it. Doesn’t matter who the man of the match is, we will form the government,” he said.Meanwhile, BJP MP Sanjay Kakade on Tuesday claimed that 45 newly-elected Sena MLAs in Maharashtra were keen to be part of a BJP-led government in the state and were in touch with the BJP. The CM, however, said he was not aware of any such thing as he himself had not been in touch with Kakade.