MUMBAI: “Shiv Sena has 175 MLAs with it and the party won’t settle for anything less than CM’s post. The Party is just a step away from forming government,” Shiv Sena MP and editor of party mouthpiece Saamana, Sanjay Raut said on Sunday.
In his column ‘Rokhthok’ in Saamana Raut has also blamed the BJP's ego has destroyed the alliance politics.
Raut, who addressed a press conference on Sunday morning, said, “The impasse continues. There is no discussion on government formation as yet. If talks happen, it will only be on the issue of the chief minister’s post.”
Earlier, in his weekly column in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Raut likened the impasse over government formation to a “chariot stuck in the mud of arrogance”.
He dared the BJP to impose President’s rule in the state, saying such a step would be the party’s “biggest defeat of the century”.
His remarks came against the backdrop of the BJP’s stand that it will not share the chief minister’s post, and minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s comments that the state may head for President’s rule if the new government is not in place by November 7.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are currently at loggerheads over sharing of power in the new government.
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There were also speculation that the Shiv Sena may join hands with the NCP and form government with outside support from the Congress. However, the NCP leadership clarified that the party would go with its mandate of sitting in the opposition.
Some state Congress leaders have said the party should back the Sena to keep the BJP out of power.
In the recent polls to 288-member state Assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena-56, NCP-54 and Congress-44.