\'Shiv Sena ready to form govt if no one else is\': Raut on Mahrashtra deadlock

Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said his party would declare its next strategy once no one else is able to form government in Maharashtra.

Talking to reporters here, Raut said his party welcomes the decision of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to invite the BJP to form government in the state.

"Now, with the governor's intervention, we hope the state will get a government," he said.

"The single largest party had to be called. We fail to understand why the BJP did not stake claim in 24 hours (after results) if it was confident that it had the majority," the Rajya Sabha member said.

On the Shiv Sena's future course of action, Raut said, "Let the picture be clear on the first step by the governor. The Shiv Sena will declare its strategy if no one else is able to form the government."

He said Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will be meeting the party MLAs at 12.30 pm on Sunday.

On posters put up by Sena workers near Thackeray's residence here demanding that he be the chief minister, Raut said, "Uddhav Thackeray is the Shiv Sena leader and he will take an appropriate decision at the right time. He has already said he will make a Shiv Sainikthe CM."

Raut also hit out at Maharashtra's caretaker chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and accused him of playing politics of fear while making a reference to German dictator Adolf Hitler in the backdrop of logjam over government formation in the state.

Without naming Devendra Fadnavis, Sanjay Raut, in a fresh attack on the BJP leader amid the ongoing war of words between the saffron allies, said, "When ways of threatening and seeking political support don't work, it is time to accept that Hitler is dead and the looming clouds of slavery have disappeared."

In his column ''Rokhthok'' in Sena mouthpiece ''Saamana'', he said Devendra Fadnavis, despite being blessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to become chief minister for the second time, has not been able to assume the top post in Maharashtra.

"He could not take oath because BJP chief Amit Shah has remained aloof from developments in the state," Sanjay Raut said.

In the October 21 polls, the BJP won 105 seats while ally Sena won 56 seats. The majority mark in the 288-member state Assembly is 145.

However, since the poll results were announced on October 24, both the parties have been bickering over the chief minister's post, resulting in a stalemate over government formation.

Sanjay Raut said even 15 days after the results were announced, Devendra Fadnavis could not take oath as the chief minister.

"The BJP's biggest ally Shiv Sena not ready to speak to the outgoing chief minister is the biggest defeat (of the BJP). This time, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will decide the next chief minister of Maharashtra," he said.

NCP president Sharad Pawar and many Congress leaders have communicated to their party chief Sonia Gandhi that their priority is to have a "non-BJP" chief minister in the state, the Rajya Sabha member said in the Marathi publication.

"Everyone wants to end the politics of revenge, subservience and playing dirty tricks," Sanjay Raut said. "Those who used to threaten others with their power are now scared," he said in remarks laced with sarcasm.

 

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