TheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scheduled to call on the Maharashtra GovernorBhagat Singh Koshiyari on Thursday has postponed the meeting from early morningto late afternoon to wait and watch for ally Shiv Sena's response even as thestalemate between the warring allies over government formation continued.
Theparty said that it would meet governor on Thursday afternoon to inform him ofthe political situation and ongoing efforts to form the government. BJP Statechief Chandrakant Patil and finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar are to meetKoshiyari at Raj Bhawan.
Thedeferment, many feel, is to wait and see what stand the Shiv Sena will takeafter party chief Uddhav Thackeray meets MLAs at 11.30 am where he is expectedto discuss the government formation stand-off.
Mungantiwarsaid that the mandate is for the BJP, Sena and RPI. Our stance is to respectthis mandate, said Mungantiwar adding that all the steps that they have takenfrom now will be to ensure the alliance government comes to power.
Both parties have been locked in a tussle over a power-sharing pact since the results of the Assembly elections were announced on October 24. While BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 105 seats, Sena has 56 seats in the 288-member Assembly. The standoff has been over-sharing the chief minister's post and important ministerial berths, with Sena insisting that an agreement was reached on the same in pre-poll talks and BJP dismissing it.
