Mumbai: State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat on Friday ruled out the possibility of forming the government with the Shiv Sena.
Mr Thorat said that his party has not received any such proposal from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
If the Sena sends such a proposal, the Maharashtra Congress will seek the opinion of the central leadership, the newly elected Sangamner MLA said.
The Congress leader also clarified that the party has not chalked out any such strategy to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) away from power in the state.
The state Congress president added that he did not believe that the Sena would dare to split from the saffron alliance and seek his party’s support.
No political party has been able to get a majority — 145 seats — on its own. The BJP has won 105 seats, while its ally, the Sena, bagged 56 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) begged 54 seats while its alliance partner Congress won 44 seats in the state.
However, the saffron alliance – BJP-Shiv Sena – has secured a comfortable majority to form the next government in Maharashtra.
Nevertheless, in light of BJP’s reduced strength in the Assembly, the Sena is likely to seek a 50:50 formula: rotational chief ministership and meatier portfolios.
“We have accepted the mandate. We would sit in the Opposition to serve the people of Maharashtra. The public has voted to break BJP’s arrogance. BJP has been brought to the ground by the public,” he said.
While slamming the use of money power and misuse of government agencies by the ruling BJP-Sena, he also thanked the people of Maharashtra for teaching turncoats a lesson by not electing them.
“The message from the yesterday’s (Assembly) results is clear, do not take the people of the state for granted,” he said.
Several high-profile turncoats, including Satara MP — and direct descendent of Shivaji Maharaj — Udayanraje Bhonsale, who quit the Nationalist Congress Party to join the BJP; Vaibhav Pichad, and Jaydutta Kshirsagar lost their election.
