Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said Thursday that had BJP president Amit Shah informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the ‘50:50’ seat-sharing formula ‘in time’, Maharashtra would not have been facing the current political impasse. He wondered if Modi was ‘kept away’ by top BJP leaders from the decision taken over seat-sharing.
Amit Shah had said Wednesday that the Shiv Sena’s demands, including sharing the chief minister’s post, were ‘unacceptable’ to the BJP. He also rejected Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s claim that the BJP agreed to share the chief minister’s post with the ally. Shah said that Prime Minister Modi many times and he ‘at least 100 times’ said in public during the Assembly polls campaign that Devendra Fadnavis will again head the government if the saffron alliance gets a majority.
“Had Shah informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about this decision of ‘50:50 formula’ in time, we would not have been facing this situation today,” Sanjay Raut said reacting to Shah’s comments.
“I heard Modi (during poll campaigns) saying that Fadnavis will continue as the chief minister of Maharashtra, but we maintained the decorum and did not object it as we did not see it as a political message to us. I wonder whether Modi was kept away by top BJP leaders from the decision taken between the BJP and Shiv Sena over seat-sharing,” the Rajya Sabha member added.
Raut informed that Shah and Uddhav Thackeray had met at the latter’s residence in Mumbai (in February before the Lok Sabha polls).
“It was the drawing room of late Balasaheb Thackeray, but for us it is a temple. The talks were held in the temple. If someone says no promises were made, it is an insult of the temple, Balasaheb Thackeray and Maharashtra,” Raut asserted. He added that the room is a ‘holy place’ for Shiv Sainiks.
Shah, in his statement did not touch upon the details of the agreement between the two allies of 30 years. He stated that it is not the values of the BJP to bring to public what has been discussed in private.
Hitting out at Shah’s remarks, Raut said, “When a promise made behind closed door is not kept, then only it comes out. We never trade in politics or we see politics from the angle of profit or loss. We are making it public because it is about our self-respect.”
The BJP and Shiv Sena, which fought the October 21 Maharashtra polls in alliance, secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats, respectively, in the 288-member Assembly.
But the BJP did not cede the Sena’s demand of sharing the chief minister’s post and this led to the breakup of the nearly three-decade-old alliance. It was forced President’s rule in the state.
PTI