Mumbai: Emerging as the single largest party in Maharashtra, the BJP is in no hurry to find an ally to form a government though it has firmly announced that the next chief minister of the state will be from the BJP.
Earlier in the day, Vinod Tawde, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, said at a press conference that the visit of Union Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to attend a crucial BJP meeting in Mumbai, has been deferred. “The new date would be announced later. Newly elected BJP legislators will meet at the state BJP office today to celebrate our victory,” he said.
Later in the day, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, BJP in-charge of Maharashtra, said that Singh and J P Nadda, both central observers, would be coming to Mumbai to meet BJP legislators. “Everything is in the open. The BJP’s top leadership will have a conclusive statement on how we will proceed with our alliance.” And added, “One thing is clear, it will be a BJP chief minister for Maharashtra.”
This sends a strong message to the Sena, the party with the second largest number of seats in the state, which has yet to approach the BJP though Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah and congratulated them on their party’s success in Maharashtra and Haryana on Sunday.
However, Saamna, Sena’s party newspaper, today questioned whether voters were happy with the verdict and said that there was no Modi Wave as claimed by the BJP. The editorial asked, “Are you happy with the verdict you have given? Are you satisfied?” It said it was unfortunate that Maharashtra was constantly facing instability.
The editorial said, “No one has given a ‘call’ to anyone but we congratulate those who are blowing their trumpets in celebration,” adding that the Sena would continue to serve the people of Maharashtra.
At a press conference held today, Sanjay Raut, Sena spokesperson, stated that the party is yet to take a decision whether to join the BJP in forming a government. Uddhav had also said that they were ready to sit in the Opposition. Both parties are waiting for the other to make the first move.
The political situation in the state changed suddenly once the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a former ally of the Congress, came forward to give unconditional ‘outside’ support to the BJP. Though the BJP has not replied whether it plans to take NCP’s backing or not, the BJP is now cool that it has the advantage in the present scenario.
Congress leaders are already taking a crack at the NCP’s quick decision to support the BJP which campaigned against what Modi called it the “Naturally Corrupt Party.” Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan too took a dig at the party and asked whether “they [NCP] have been washed in Ganga ‘jal’ [water]” to cleanse themselves.
