Maharashtra crisis: Amit Shah breaks silence, calls Sena's demands 'unacceptable'

Even as Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP held hectic parleys to work out a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) for government formation in Maharashtra, BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah broke his silence on the issue saying there were no objections raised when he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had publicly said Devendra Fadnavis would be the chief minister if the Sena-BJP alliance were to win the assembly polls in the state. His remarks came a day after President's rule was imposed in the state.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Shah said before the elections, many times PM Modi and he himself said publicly that if the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance were to win, Fadnavis would continue as the chief minister. "No one objected back then. Now they have come up with new demands which are not acceptable to us," ANI quoted him as saying.

Further, the home minister said 18 days were given for government formation in the state. Pointing out that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari invited parties and asked them to express willingness to form government only after the tenure of assembly ended, he said "Even if today, any party has numbers, it can approach the governor".

President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra on Tuesday after the governor, in a report to the Centre, stated that formation of a stable government was impossible in the current situation despite all his efforts, drawing flak from non-BJP parties. In the assembly polls held last month, the BJP won 105 seats, followed by the Shiv Sena (56), the NCP (54) and the Congress (48) in the 288-member house.

(With PTI inputs)