Live Updates

  • 3:44 PM IST

    “We have the numbers
    to make our own Chief Minister. We don’t need to show that here, we will show
    that on the floor of the house. We have the alternative. We don’t speak without
    options and alternatives,” Sanjay Raut said.

  • 3:43 PM IST

    “If you (BJP) have the numbers, then form the government. If
    you don’t have the numbers, then admit it. Constitution is for the people of
    this country, it is not their (BJP’s) personal property. We know the
    constitution well. We’ll form the CM of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra
    constitutionally,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said.

  • 3:33 PM IST

    Maharashtra Govt Formation LIVE: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation comprising of Girish Mahajan, Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Ashish Shelar met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari today.

  • 2:36 PM IST

    Maharashtra Govt Formation LIVE: Mandate was for Mahayuti, says BJP

    Maharashtra BJP President, Chandrakant Patil, has said, people of Maharashtra have given the mandate to ‘Mahayuti’ (alliance). “There is a delay in government formation. Today, we met the Governor to discuss the legal options and political situation in the state,” said the leader
  • 2:22 PM IST

  • 2:13 PM IST

  • 12:42 PM IST

  • 12:42 PM IST

    Maharashtra Govt Formation LIVE: We will get Shiv Sena support, we are in talks with them, says Union minister Nitin Gadkari

  • 12:21 PM IST

  • 12:00 PM IST

    Maharashtra Govt Formation LIVE: We want to run a strong and stable government. We wish to form the government with Shiv Sena. Uddhav ji had himself said earlier that Devendra Fadnavis ji is also a Shiv Sainik, says BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar

New Delhi: As the power struggle between the BJP and Shiv Sena enters the 14th day, the BJP is all set to meet the Governor without Sena on Thursday. On the other hand, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has summoned 56 elected MLAs at his residence. According to reports, after the Sena meeting, the MLAs might be shifted to Trident Hotel, Mumbai. Their phones will be taken away so that they can’t be contacted by the BJP.

The two parallel developments show little sign of merging as on Thursday, Sena mouthpiece Saamana came up with a caustic editorial denouncing BJP’s politics involving money and muscle power.

Meanwhile, the term of the previous assembly is set to end on Saturday.

But what if Devendra Fadnavis fails to attain the magic 145 figure during the floor test in the 288-strong Assembly? While BJP insiders think Sena will finally give in, there’s no hint of an impending thaw. Instead, Sena leaders are pitching for a Sena CM. If the BJP fails to prove majority, Sena-NCP-Congress could have been the alternative, but NCP leader Sharad Pawar has dismissed any such possibility after he met Raut on Wednesday. Congress, too, made it clear that it doesn’t want to ally with the Sena. In that case, it could also pave the way for President’s Rule.

“We met the Governor, Republican Party of India’s Ramdas Athawale also met him. And if BJP leaders are meeting the Governor tomorrow to stake claim then they should form the government as they are the single largest party, we have been saying it,” Sena MP Sanjay Raut said commenting on BJP’s proposed meet with the Governor.

Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Wednesday claimed that Maharashtra has caught itself in a political bottleneck with the ‘elder brother’ BJP not taking its ‘younger brother’ Shiv Sena into confidence. “The present situation in Maharashtra is because of BJP not taking its allies into confidence. That is why Shiv Sena is disturbed and there is tension between the two. There cannot be a solution till Shiv Sena withdraws from the alliance,” Ashok Chavan was quoted by a report as saying.