NEW DELHI: A day after meeting Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday asserted that a strong and stable government led by his party will be formed in Maharashtra soon.
"A Shiv Sena-led government will be formed in Maharashtra soon. It will be a stable, strong and effective government. We want Uddhav Thackerey to lead the government," Raut said during a press conference here.
He said that the Shiv Sena led government will have the support of 170 MLAs in the assembly.
"Shiv Sena is the largest party in the country. We have 18 MP and we are going to form a government in Maharashtra. We don't need anyone's interference. We will have the support of 170 MLAs on the floor," Raut said.
Slamming Union minister and RPI leader Ram Das Athawale for trying to negotiate a three-year and two-year term as Chief Minister in the state between BJP and Shiv Sena, Raut said: "He is a Minister of State in the central government. He should focus on himself and not worry about Shiv Sena."
He said that there is a consensus across party lines that the President's rule should end in the state.
"I talked about the formation of government in the meeting with NCP leader Sharad Pawar yesterday. There is a consensus across party lines be it Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress or BJP that a government should be formed in the state," he added.
This comes a day after Raut met Pawar at his residence, merely hours after the NCP chief met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Raut had said that he met Pawar and asked him to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the farmers' distress in the state due to untimely rains.
President's rule came into effect in Maharashtra after parties failed to form a government in the state.
Shiv Sena and BJP, which contested the assembly polls together, parted ways after a conflict over power-sharing in the state. Shiv Sena is currently in parley with NCP and Congress to form a government.
While the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Maharashtra assembly polls with 105 seats, the NCP and Congress have 54 and 44 MLAs, respectively, in the state Assembly.