Fadnavis extends olive branch to Sena for Maharashtra alliance

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, October 30

Shortly after his election as leader of the BJP legislative party for a second consecutive term here on Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis extended an olive branch to the Shiv Sena.

“This is a mandate for the Mahayuti (Grand Alliance) and only the Mahayuti will form the government,” Fadnavis told reporters shortly after being elected as leader of the BJP in the Maharashtra Assembly. Thanking Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray for the victory of
the saffron alliance, Fadnavis dismissed as rumours reports of a rupture in their relationship.

“There are many rumours about various formulas about government formation... these only have entertainment value,” Fadnavis said.
Meanwhile backchannel talks between the BJP and the Shiv Sena have started again, according to sources.
The BJP has sought to placate the Shiv Sena with the post of deputy chief minister and some important portfolios. BJP leaders say they do not want to part with meaty portfolios like home, finance, co-operation and revenue. On the other hand, the Shiv Sena has gone silent after Tuesday’s sabre-rattling.

“What will be, will be. What’s in Maharashtra’s fate will happen,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told
reporters.
The Sena is set to hold a meeting of its legislative party on Thursday where it will elect its leader. Aaditya Thackeray, the first from the family to win an election, is the most obvious choice. However Raut and other Shiv Sena leaders refused to comment on it.

Earlier on Wednesday, all 105 newly-elected MLAs of the BJP met at Vidhan Bhavan to elect Fadnavis as the leader of the BJP legislative party. Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and party vice president Avinash Rai Khanna were the central observers. Only the name of Fadnavis was
proposed and his election was unanimous, Tomar told reporters after the meeting.

BJP leaders said Fadnavis will stake claim to form the government only after the Shiv Sena comes on board, party leader Girish Mahajan told reporters here.

Meanwhile the Nationalist Congress Party reiterated that its mandate was to sit in the opposition. “The mandate is for us to sit in the opposition. We will see if the situation changes,” NCP leader Praful
Patel told reporters.

He felt that the BJP would finally form the government with the Shiv Sena. He dismissed reports of their discord as “show off”.