Maharashtra Government: BJP and Shiv Sena could not reach an agreement on power-sharing deal. (File)
The Shiv Sena won't go with the BJP "even if Lord Indra's throne is offered", Sena leader Sanjay Raut declared on Friday on the possibility of the long-time allies getting back together. He also asserted that the Shiv Sena would have the chief minister's post for a full five-year term after Maharashtra government formation.
"The time for offers has ended," Sanjay Raut, a Rajya Sabha member of the Shiv Sena, said on reports that the BJP had agreed to share the chief minister's post with the Sena after all. The two parties fell out after contesting last month's Maharashtra polls together after the BJP rejected the Sena's demand for rotational chief ministership.
Earlier this week, Mr Raut was quoted by Union Minister Ramdas Athawale as saying that the Sena could consider resuming ties if the BJP agreed to rule for three years and then hand over to the Sena for the final two.
"The people of Maharashtra want Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to become the chief minister," he said, adding that all three parties agreed on this.
The Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress may announce an alliance, tentatively named the "Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra development front)", today after meetings in Mumbai.
Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya Thackeray and Mr Raut visited Sharad Pawar at his house after he returned to Mumbai last evening.
After a go-ahead from chief Sonia Gandhi, the Congress yesterday acknowledged for the first time that it was in talks with the Sena. NDTV has learnt that the common agenda of the new alliance will stress on farmers and jobs and the Shiv Sena's subsidised food plan.
The three parties have decided "in principle" to get together but are yet to finalise a Common Minimum Programme. Sources say the Sena, a pro-Hindutva party, is not amenable to including the term "secular" in the common agenda, a demand by the Congress.
Maharashtra was placed under President's Rule last week after no party could produce letters of support to prove their majority.