Maharashtra power politics: 'Chanakya defeated by Pawar'

At a time when Shiv Sena is drifting away from its one of the oldest alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and inching closer to Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to form government in Maharashtra, Sena leader Sanjay Raut and NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik today commented on the changing dynamics of the state power politics.

Meanwhile, Malik hit out at BJP national president Amit Shah who has been hailed as 'Chanakya' in Indian politics and said he has been defeated by NCP chief Pawar Sahab, referring to BJP's failure to form government in Maharashtra.

Taking to Twitter, Malik posted that the so-called Chanakya of Indian politics was defeated by Pawar Saheb. The NCP leader, who tweeted in Hindi reads: "After all, the so-called Chanakya of Indian politics was defeated by Pawar Saheb. Maharashtra could not bow to the throne of Delhi. Jai Maharashtra."

On the other hand, Raut tweeted in Hindi which reads, "Sometimes it is better to move away from some relationship. Not for ego but for self-respect."

The hot-and-cold relationship between BJP and Sena is not new in politics. The two parties, which stitched an alliance in 1989 for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Maharashtra, had met dead-ends many times in the last 30 years.

In 1995, the two first formed the government in Maharashtra and remained in power till 1999 with Manohar Joshi as its first chief minister.

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Smaller allies of NCP-Congress held meetings with the leaders of the alliance today to work out final modalities and their role in the "Maha Vikas Aghadi" (NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena) government in the state.

Apart from these three major parties, smaller allies of Congress and NCP like Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Peasants and Workers Party of India, Samajwadi Party etc will also be a part of the alliance. They will most likely be part of the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi', the expected name of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in the state. According to the leaders of Congress and NCP, a Common Minimum Programme to run the alliance government has been worked out after a series of meetings and several rounds of discussions. They also told that power-distribution among the allies would soon be finalised in a couple of meetings.

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Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President's Rule was imposed in the state.

The Shiv Sena is now in talks with the Congress and NCP to form a government in Maharashtra.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.

(ANI Inputs)

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