Sena invited to form govt, Raut heads to meet Sonia Gandhi: Sources

Incredibly fast-paced political developments have taken place in Maharashtra on Sunday, as moments after the BJP decided to not form the government in the state and the Governor invited the Shiv Sena to stake claim by 7:30 pm on Monday as its the second-largest party, sources have reported that Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut is expected to reach Delhi to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday night. Sources have also reported that Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray has talked to Sonia Gandhi over a phone call. 

NCP confirms Sena's approach

A short while earlier, NCP MLA Nawab Malik while speaking to Republic TV, made a huge statement by acknowledging that the Shiv Sena had reached out to the NCP. On being asked about NCP's engagement with the Shiv Sena, as Sanjay Raut has met Sharad Pawar multiple times, he said, "They are hinting that they want our support, but before taking any decision on what basis they want our support, that should be discussed."

Earlier, adding to the 'Maha'-confusion, Congress leader Milind Deora, suggested that the Governor should invite NCP-Congress to form the next Maharashtra government as the Mahayuti has failed to do so. Exposing the Congress' internal tussle yet again, its leader Sanjay Nirupam has said that alliance with Sena will be fatal for Congress. Congress and NCP fought the assembly election in an alliance. 

READ | BJP tells Maha Guv it won't form govt, dares Sena to go with Cong-NCP

READ | Maharashtra Governor invites Shiv Sena to form govt after BJP declines

Maharashtra power tussle 

The Maharashtra assembly election was conducted on October 21. The results declared on October 24 threw up a surprise with the BJP-SS alliance not faring as well as expected. The tally of the BJP came down to 105, from 122 seats which they had won in the 2014 election. Shiv Sena too won from only 56 constituencies. On the other hand, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Cong gained 54 and 44 seats respectively. Though the BJP-SS alliance has a comfortable majority, a tussle has been going on over the CM’s post. On Friday, both Fadnavis and SS supremo Uddhav Thackeray lashed out at each other, indicating a bleak future for the alliance. SS MP Sanjay Raut has also been repeatedly asserting that the next CM would be from his party. 

READ | NCP to Shiv Sena: Resign from Centre, breakup with BJP, then we'll see

READ | NCP confirms Shiv Sena's approach, states condition after BJP's dare