Poster referring to Aaditya Thackeray as future CM spotted
On Thursday, BJP and Shiv Sena managed to retain Maharashtra, by winning 161 out of 288 assembly seats. Though the alliance is comfortably above the magic number of 145, the partners witnessed some friction after BJP performed below-par. There has been huge buzz that Sena wants chief ministership, and a poster "crowning" Aaditya Thackeray was spotted in Worli from where he has won.
Sena and BJP joined hands before polls after long-winding discussions
Before the October 21 polls, Sena and BJP spent a lot of time in "striking a deal". Shiv Sena leader, Sanjay Raut famously said the agreement was turning out to be more tedious than partition. Finally, the parties reached a consensus. BJP fielded candidates from 150 seats, and Sena got 124 seats, agreeing to become the junior partner for the first time.
Interestingly, Sena is happy BJP's score came down
Yesterday, after trends started coming in, Sena's supporters took a sigh of relief. Though Sena's tally ended at 56, the party was somewhat happy that BJP won 105 seats, and came down from its number of 122 in 2014. With new-found teeth, Sena's leaders demanded that the other party honors the 50-50 deal agreed to, before the polls. Meanwhile, BJP chose to remain quiet.
So, what is the 50-50 deal?
Apparently, Sena wants to have more say in governance this term. It is hoping that Devendra Fadnavis remains the CM for 2.5 years, and someone from Sena (most likely Aaditya) for the rest of the assembly's duration. Earlier, Sena wanted to bargain Deputy CM post for the Aaditya, who became the first-ever Thackeray to contest and win polls, but it has became more ambitious.
In warning to BJP, Uddhav said Sena can't "tolerate" much
That Sena's ambitions have increased was confirmed after chief Uddhav Thackeray said, "The important question is who will be the chief minister?" Addressing press, the Sena boss said BJP state chief Chandrakant Patil raised some concerns earlier but there's only so much his party can tolerate. "The Sena contested fewer seats on the BJP's request. We can't always be so accommodating," he added.
We also have to run our party: Uddhav.
"After all, we have to run our party too. We reached the formula when Amit Shah came to my house (ahead of the Lok Sabha elections). Now's the time to implement that," Uddhav said.
Meanwhile, Sena said it won't join hands with NCP, Congress
After tensions between allies surfaced, some reports suggested that Sena might join hands with Congress and NCP to keep BJP away. Refuting this, Thackeray said Maharashtra will be governed by Sena and BJP. Meanwhile, Balasaheb Thorat, President of Maharashtra Congress Committee, said they haven't received any offer and if they do, they will discuss it with the top brass in New Delhi.
