Gadkari: 'Balasaheb used to say, party with more seats gets CM post'

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in a press conference seconds the claim of Devendra Fadnavis stating that no discussions were held between BJP and Shiv Sena prior to the election with regard to sharing the post of chief minister for the term of 2.5 years. The Union Minister also recalled one of his conversations with the late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray in presence of late Pramod Mahajan and late Gopinath Munde, when Balasaheb had said that whichever party wins more seats deserves to have its candidate as the Chief Minister.

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Gadkari recalled Balasaheb Thackeray's conversation

“When late Balasaheb Thackeray was heading the Shiv Sena, I was working in Maharashtra, Pramod Ji (Pramod Mahajan) and Gopinath Ji (Gopinath Munde) were also there. I had a conversation with Balasaheb Thackeray in which he had declared that whichever party wins more seats should get to have its candidate as the chief minister. Usually, this is an unspoken rule in democracy that whichever party wins more seats deserves to have its candidate as the chief minister. Had Shiv Sena got more seats then they could have had their chief minister. This understanding has prevailed and is accepted across all states and all parties in the alliance,” said Gadkari.

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“BJP has won 105 seats, Shiv Sena is an alliance partner of BJP, we could have sat and discussed about the issue, even now we can discuss, but just a day after winning the election as an alliance if Shiv Sena supremo says they have kept doors open to all parties to form government, then there is no meaning of the alliance,” added Gadkari.

Couldn't Form Govt Despite Mandate: Fadnavis Hurt As Sena-BJP Implode

After the deadlock between BJP and Shiv Sena which continued for 15 days after the election results were out, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has resigned from the post of the chief minister. However, he will stay as an acting chief minister at the behest of Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari until further instruction.

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