Mumbai: A meeting of the BJP Legislature Party is likely to take place here on Monday after which the process of forming a government in Maharashtra will speed up.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh will also arrive in Mumbai for the meeting as an observer to complete the process of the election of the leader of the BJP in the Maharashtra Assembly.
According to sources, a one-line resolution giving all authority to the party leadership to pick the chief minister is expected to be moved in the legislature party meeting.
Significantly, the BJP is not ready to offer more than five-seven ministries to the Sena. BJP sources said the party leadership had taken serious note of the demand of some of its MLAs to appoint Nitin Gadkari as chief minister of Maharashtra.
The action of Mr Gadkari’s MLA supporters did not go down well with the leadership and the leadership is considering taking all authority to choose the CM by moving a one-line resolution.
Devendra Fadnavis is considered to be the BJP leadership’s choice for the post of chief minister. Despite this, some MLAs openly demanded that Mr Gadkari be made CM. The move was seen as a show of strength by the senior leader, who also seems to harbour aspirations of becoming chief minister.
Meanwhile, the BJP has clarified that they would be able to give five to seven ministries to the Shiv Sena if the latter wanted to join them in government formation.
Sena leaders have been informed that the formula for giving ministries to the Shiv Sena would be either one on five MLAs or one on seven MLAs, and that too only for 22 MLAs, instead of their total strength of 62 MLAs.
“The BJP is falling short of 22 MLAs for proving its majority on the floor of the House. Thus, we can give ministries to Sena against only 22 MLAs.
Going by this, the Shiv Sena would get a maximum five ministers,” said a senior party functionary. Party sources said they would be able to leave two more ministries to their alliance partner, but not more than that.
In a sign that the rift between the two former allies had still not been completely mended, casting a shadow over the reported offer by the BJP to the Shiv Sena of seven seats, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray skipped the inauguration of the H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai on Saturday.
Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai ascribed his leader's absence to Bhau beej even as he also made all too clear that Mr Thackeray would not be going to New Delhi to attend the Prime Minister's dinner with National Democratic Alliance MPs on Sunday.
Mr Desai was one of two Sena MPs who had visited Delhi to hold talks with BJP leaders recently. Another Shiv Sena MP, Vinayak Raut, added that no meeting has so far been scheduled between Mr Thackeray and Mr Modi.
“We haven’t had any talks with BJP regarding Mr Modi's meeting with Uddhav Thackeray. For now, I can only say that all the Sena MPs will be attending the Diwali dinner tomorrow,” he said.
Asked if he thought the BJP wanted to form a government without the Sena's support, Mr Raut said that would be their decision. "Mr Thackeray is keenly observing every development.," he said. Speculation notwithstanding, Mr Thackeray has not met with Mr Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah during Diwali.
