The ongoing power tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra intensified on Tuesday after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis denied that the Uddhav Thackeray's party was assured the CM post for two-and-a-half years. Hours after Fadnavis's comment, an angry Thackeray cancelled his party's scheduled meeting with the BJP, in a move that could further worsen the already strained relationship between the two parties.
The meeting was scheduled to be held in Mumbai at 4 pm on Tuesday, and was to be attended by Union minister Prakash Javadekar and senior Shiv Sena leaders.
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Earlier, Fadnavis said there was no formula to split the CM post between the two parties for terms of two-and-a-half years each. However, Thackeray has been insisting that the 50:50 formula on sharing of power was "agreed upon" between himself, BJP chief Amit Shah and Fadnavis ahead of the Lok Sabha polls this year.
Many Shiv Sena leaders have suggested that the BJP share the post of chief minister with their party on a rotational basis, a demand unlikely to be conceded by the national party.
Earlier in the day, the Shiv Sena came up with an old video of the CM in which he purportedly talked about equal sharing of posts and responsibilities in the state government. The clip with a caption "Jara Yaad karo Jabani" (Remember the assurance) was put out by Harshal Pradhan, a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray.
There were reports that Amit Shah might visit Mumbai and hold talks with Thackeray to settle the berth pangs in government formation. However, Fadnavis announced that Shah would not be attending the BJP legislature party meeting on Wednesday.
The power tussle between the saffron allies began soon after the results of the assembly elections were out on October 24, with the BJP failing to reach the halfway mark on its own and the Sena demanding for an equal division of power.
In the polls to the 288-member assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, a loss of 17 seats compared to 2014, while the Sena's tally also came down to 56 seats from 63. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP won 54 and the Congress bagged 44 seats.
With inputs from PTI