Governor invites CM Fadnavis to form govt in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Amid the tussle over chief ministership between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday invited the latter, the single-largest party to stake claim to form the new government.

Speaking with this newspaper, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “A decision will be taken in a meeting of the party’s core committee on Sunday.”

The communication from the governor’s office said, “The governor of Maharashtra Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari today asked the leader of elected members of the single largest party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Devendra Fadnavis to indicate the willingness and ability of his party to form the government in Maharashtra.”

While the Shiv Sena has still not committed its support to the BJP, Congress and NCP said that they will vote against the BJP in case it comes to the floor test.

“The NCP will think of an alternative if the Shiv Sena votes against the BJP on the floor of the House and the government collapses,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

NCP’s state president Jayant Patil said that the governor should invite NCP-Congress alliance to form the government if the BJP fails, since the alliance is the second-largest block of the pre-poll alliance.

On the other hand, Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan alleged that it was wrong on the governor’s part to invite BJP. “As per the rules, the governor should invite the single largest party, only if it has staked claim to form the government. To my knowledge, the BJP has not made any such claim and therefore inviting the party to form the government is not per the rules,” Mr Chavan said.

Mr Fadnavis on Friday had resigned as the chief minister, blaming the Sena for rebuffing all attempts to form an alliance government. The governor had asked Mr Fadnavis to act as caretaker chief minister until an alternate arrangement is made.