Amit Shah discusses Haryana, Maharashtra government formation with Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi: After their victory in Assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra, BJP on Monday moved forward towards government formation in both states with party chief Amit Shah holding parleys with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for charting out further strategy.
Shah spent some 45 minutes at Gadkari's residence and the two worked out their further strategy on government formation in Maharashtra where the party fell short of a majority. Top leaders are later likely to meet the Prime Minister. Gadkari hails from Maharashtra, has been a former BJP chief and also shares good ties with the RSS.
The two had a one-on-one meeting on joining hands again with its old ally Shiv Sena after its chief Udhhav Thackeray congratulated the Prime Minister and Shah yesterday.
The BJP is inclined to go with Sena once again after breaking its 25-year-old alliance with it over seat sharing ahead of the assembly polls.
Former party president and Union Minister Rajnath Singh, who has been appointed as the observer for the meeting of BJP Legislative Party in Maharashtra to elect their leader, will be leaving for Mumbai tonight. BJP's state unit chief Devendra Fadnavis leads the race for the party's Chief Ministerial candidate.
NCP sprang a surprise yesterday with its offer of "outside support" in the western state where the saffron party fell short of majority.
In Haryana, where the BJP has already got a majority of its own, the party's newly-elected MLAs will meet at Chandigarh tomorrow at noon to elect their leader, who is likely to be the chief ministerial candidate.
"The BJP Legislative Party in Haryana will meet tomorrow at 12 noon at UT State Guest House to elect its leader. BJP's former president Venkaiah Naidu will be the observer for the meeting," Jagdish Mukhi, BJP's incharge for Haryana said.
He said it will be up to the new MLAs to elect their leader and the name of the party's chief ministerial candidate will be decided tomorrow who is likely to take oath before Diwali. "We are hopeful of having a chief minister in place ahead of Diwali," he said.
Senior BJP leader and Karnal MLA Manohar Lal Khattar, who is also said to share close ties with RSS, leads the race for the top post in Haryana and is reportedly in Delhi for talks with senior leaders.
