The BJP is seeking a consolidated alliance, says the Maharashtra Chief Minister
After weeks of will they-won't they, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today expressed confidence that estranged ally Shiv Sena will join the BJP government headed by him in the state.
"I am totally confident that we will form an alliance with the Shiv Sena and it will be a strong government," Mr Fadnavis told NDTV.
The newly-appointed Chief Minister confirmed that the two parties were holding parleys over government formation. "Our talks with the Shiv Sena are going on. Talks are on track," he said.
Mr Fadnavis, who was sworn in on Friday in Mumbai at an event attended by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray among others, is heading a minority government. His party, the BJP, is 23 seats short of a majority in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
The Shiv Sena, which has 63 seats in its kitty, has conveyed to the BJP that the latter should decide on an alliance - one way or another - before the vote of confidence, said sources. The BJP has been given 15 days by the Maharashtra governor to hold a trust vote.
The longtime allies had gone their separate ways in September, when they ended their 25-year-long political partnership after talks on seat sharing for the assembly elections fell through.
Mr Fadnavis acknowledged that - after the split - there was "a lot of bitterness at the time of elections" between the two parties. The BJP was "quite hurt" by "whatever aspersions were cast, speeches were given, pieces were written," he said.
Though the BJP has "moved on," the newly-appointed Chief Minister said the party, "while moving on, wants to clear everything".
"We want a consolidated alliance," said Mr Fadnavis.
He also claimed that the issue of taking the support of Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, which won 41 seats, was "not on the agenda".
"The NCP has said they will abstain during the trust vote (in the assembly). So taking support from them is not on the agenda," he said.