Mumbai/New Delhi: Even as the Congress top brass discussed backing a Shiv Sena led government in Maharashtra in Delhi on Monday, the Mumbai Congress was a divided house over the issue with senior leaders contradicting each other.
Former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam has raised a red flag against the party extending support to Sena, while his successor and former union minister Milind Deora wants to see a Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine government.
The reactions came after the largest party BJP expressed its inability to form the government prompting Governor BS Koshyari to invite Sena – the second elected group – to show willingness and ability to give the state a new administration.
While Deora said the Governor should invite NCP-Congress alliance to form the government now that the BJP-Sena have refused to do so, Nirupam said it was impossible for the Congress-NCP to form any government in the current political arithmetic.
“For that we need Shiv Sena. And we must not think of sharing power with the Sena under any circumstances. That will be a disastrous move for the (Congress),” Nirupam reiterated his earlier position.
The divide came to the fore after reports suggesting a large section of Congress MLAs – currently herded in Jaipur – are pressurising the party high command to support a Sena-led government.
Officially, the Congress and NCP have both maintained that they have no public mandate and are prepared to sit in the Opposition, even as Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday indicated that his party was on the way to forming a government with Congress-NCP support, with a common minimum programme.
Nirupam has also questioned: “No matter who forms government and how? But the political instability in Maharashtra cannot be ruled out now. Get ready for early elections. It may take place in 2020. Can we go to the elections with Shiv Sena as a partner?
The Sena has bowed before the NCP-Congress’ demand that it must first snap ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance NDA in the Centre and state as a precondition to their support. As a first step, the Sena has decided to withdraw its sole minister Arvind Sawant from the Union Cabinet.
The BJP-Sena had fought as a pre-poll alliance, but now they have virtually separated despite getting a clear majority.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut announced that his party has decided to quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA in the Centre and would form a government in Maharashtra with the support of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
According to party sources, Raut is also likely to meet top Congress leaders in New Delhi later in the day to seek support for his party’s government in the state. Top Congress sources said he may visit Sonia Gandhi, but no meeting has been sought as yet.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has also called a meeting of its core group to discuss the issue.
Before the meeting, former Civil Aviation Minister and senior NCP leader Praful Patel told reporters, “There are so many points that need to be discussed before coming to a conclusion.
In the recently concluded elections, the BJP emerged as the single biggest party in Maharashtra winning 105 out of the 288 seats, while its partner Shiv Sena managed to get 56 seats. The NCP and the Congress won 54 and 44 seats respectively.