BJP Will Not Form Government In Maharashtra, Says Chandrakant Patil After Meeting Governor

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not form government in Maharashtra owing to lack of numbers, says party's state president Chandrakant Patil after meeting Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Patil said the BJP was not in a position to form the government in Maharashtra despite having a public mandate for its pre-poll alliance. 

Patil also said that BJP ally Shiv Sena disrespected the people's mandate in Maharashtra by not supporting in formation of the government.

"We fought under banner of grand alliance. Shiv Sena doesn't want to come with us and has betrayed mandate. We've told Governor that we cannot form govt. If Shiv Sena wants to form govt with Congress-NCP, we extend our good wishes to them," Patil said.

The BJP won 105 seats in the October 21 elections, while the majority mark in the 288-member Assembly is 145. Its ally Shiv Sena has won 56 seats, but the two parties are bickering over chief minister's post.

On Friday, after Fadnavis resigned as Chief Minister and was asked by the governor to continue as caretaker CM, the two allies had a bitter showdown over what had been decided mutually about the chief minister's post during their pre-poll negotiations.

While Fadnavis claimed that the BJP had never promised to share the chief minister's post with its ally, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray maintained that assurance of equal sharing of all posts had been given, and the BJP must not portray him as a liar.

The Shiv Sena has shifted most of its 56 MLAs to a hotel in suburban Malad, apparently to guard them against `poaching' attempts.