'BJP always wanted Fadnavis to be CM; Sena's demands are not up to snuff', Amit Shah breaks silence over MH's political crisis

Mumbai, Novermebr 13: While the state at large was wondering that why was BJP President quite over the political crisis in Maharashtra, Chief Amit Shah today has rejected the Shiv Sena's claim that it was promised rotational chief ministership in a new Maharashtra government and instead affirmed that its estranged ally had come up with post-electoral conditions that could not be accepted.

 

"Before the elections, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I had said many times in public that Devendra Fadnavis will be the Chief Minister if the alliance wins. Nobody objected back then. Now they have come up with new demands that are not acceptable to us", Amit Shah said in a special interview to a renowned news agency.

 

 

The BJP chief, who also serves as the Home Minister, condemned the manner in which his party's spat with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had gone public. "It's not in our party's tradition to disclose what transpires behind closed doors," he said. "If the Sena thinks that it can revolt and get the people's sympathy, they really don't know the public".

 

This is a day after President's Rule was declared in the state, even as the Shiv Sena desperately tried to cobble up a working alliance with the opposition Congress-NCP combine. "To those who criticise the Governor for imposing President's Rule by saying that establishing the next government is their right, this is what I want to say: You have the right but you don't have the numbers", Shah said taking a required jibe at NCP-Congress extant alliance.

 

Shah further said that his party does not favour mid-term elections either. "Maharashtra was given 18 days to form the government, which is unprecedented for any state. The governor invited parties only after the tenure of the state assembly ended. President's Rule was declared when no party came forward to stake claim," he said, adding that any party can approach the governor even today if it has the numbers.

 

Although the BJP and the Shiv Sena had achieved a comfortable majority in the October 21 assembly elections, the state was plunged into political uncertainty after the two allies entered into a tussle for power. While the Shiv Sena claimed that it was assured a 50:50 power-sharing deal in the state after winning the elections, the BJP denied making any such promise.