MH-GUV-BJP-SENA

Fadnavis, Sena leader Raote to meet Maha Governor
    Mumbai, Oct 28 (PTI) Amid the battle of oneupmanship
over sharing of power in the next Maharashtra government,
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena leader Diwakar
Raote will be meeting state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari
separately here on Monday morning.
    Leaders of both the parties, however, claimed they
wanted to extend Diwali greetings to the governor, and denied
that there would be any political discussion on the formation
of next government in the state.
    "This is a festival of lights and Raote will meet
Governor Koshyari to extend Diwali greetings on behalf of the
Sena. There will be no political discussion," a senior leader
of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.
    Besides, a close aide of Fadnavis also told PTI that
the chief minister will be meeting the governor to wish him
for the Diwali festival.
    "Any political discussion is unlikely," he said.
    As the BJP's tally went down in the state Assembly
elections held last week compared to its 2014 performance, its
ally Shiv Sena's chief Uddhav Thackeray raised a pitch for
"equal sharing" of power.
    Thackeray reminded the BJP of the 50:50 formula
"agreed upon" between himself, BJP president Amit Shah and
Fadnavis ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
    On Saturday, he demanded a written assurance from the
BJP for implementing "equal formula for sharing of power"
before holding talks on staking the claim to form the next
alliance government in the state.
    In the just concluded state polls to 288-member
Assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, a loss of 17 seats compared
to its 2014 tally.
    The Sena's tally also came down to 56 seats from 63 in
2014. PTI ND
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)