Devendra Fadnavis Meets RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat Amid Power Tussle In Maharashtra

Amid the deadlock between the Shiv Sena and the BJP over power sharing in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis flew to Nagpur on Tuesday night and met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. He arrived at the RSS headquarters in Mahal area in Nagpur around 9.25 pm and left after one and a half hours.

Earlier in the day, Fadnavis held a meeting of BJP leaders at his official residence in Mumbai.

RSS functionaries in Nagpur were tight-lipped aboutwhat transpired at the meeting, though it is being speculated that the meeting was about the political deadlock in the state after the October 21 assembly elections. Earlier in the day, senior state BJP leader and finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had said that "good news"about government formation may come at any moment. Sena MP Sanjay Raut, however, said his party was firmon a written assurance from the BJP over power sharing, including rotating CM's post for 2.5 years.

Mungantiwar was speaking to reporters after attending a meeting of BJP leaders called by Fadnavis at the latter's official residence here in afternoon.

BJP state unit president Chandrakant Patil, who also attended the meeting, said they are now waiting for a proposal from the Shiv Sena.

"We have extended our complete support to Fadnavis as leader of the legislative wing of the party in Maharashtra," he added.

The BJP and the Sena are locked in a bitter tussle over sharing of the post of chief minister and ministerial portfolios in new government, even 12 days after the assembly poll verdict handed them enough seats to cobble up a coalition government.

The ruling BJP and the Sena had won 161 seats together in the 288-member House, much above the halfway mark of 145.

The Sena had called of a meeting to hold formal talks with the BJP on October 29 after the chief minister rejected Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's claims that a formula had been "agreed upon" on "equal sharing of power" ahead of the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May this year.

High-profile meetings in New Delhi on Monday between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his Congress counterpart Sonia Gandhi, and the one between Fadnavis and BJP chief Amit Shah had failed to give any indication of breaking the logjam over government formation.