Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam was earlier with the Shiv Sena
Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam has criticised party leaders who are considering supporting the Shiv Sena in an attempt to form the government in Maharashtra. This comes as the Sena and the BJP are engaged in a tug-of-war over the former's demand that the Chief Minister's post be rotated after 2.5 years. Mr Nirupam said the war of words between the two parties was "drama" and warned his party to stay away from it.
"Have they lost? How can some Congress leaders think of supporting the Shiv Sena," the former Mumbai Congress President tweeted, adding, "Congress should not get into Shiv Sena-BJP drama. It's fake. It's their temporary fight to grab more power share".
Mr Nirupam had previously expressed disappointment over the distribution of tickets ahead of the election on October 21.
"To the best of my understanding, Shiv Sena will never come out of BJP's shadow," the former parliamentarian, who was associated with Bal Thackeray-founded Sena before joining the Congress, said.
He also cautioned his party against "flirting" with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, describing it as a "futile exercise".
"It is going to be a futile exercise. Hope state leaders realise the truth. Instead we must introspect why the party lost two per cent of votes as compared to 2014 assembly elections. We are down from 17 to 15 per cent (in terms of vote share). As a party we have come down from third to fourth position (in term of seats)," he said.
Former Congress Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan had earlier spoken about the need for the Sena to break away from the BJP if it wanted to form the government in the state.
However, senior leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, who is AICC4-in-charge of Maharashtra affairs, and Sushilkumar Shinde are against doing any business with the Sena. When contacted, Mr Shinde stressed to PTI that the Congress is a secular party.
"The Congress and the Shiv Sena are ideologically different and Mallikarjun Kharge has already said there is no question of the two parties coming together," Mr Shinde, a former Chief Minister, said.
On Thursday, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Maharashtra Congress President Balasaheb Thorat met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and then left for Delhi to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Government formation in Maharashtra has stalled with the Sena demanding the Chief Minister's post be rotated and portfolios be divided equally. However, the BJP has insisted that Devendra Fadnavis, who was Chief Minister in the earlier administration, will continue to hold the post for the next five years as well.
In the recently concluded election, the NCP won 54 seats while its ally, the Congress, clinched 44. On the other hand, the BJP and Sena won 105 and 56 seats, respectively, in the 288-member Assembly.