Devendra Fadnavis trashes Shiv Sena's 50-50 demand on CM post

Mumbai : Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday reacted to Shiv Sena's claim on CM post in the state; he said, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never agreed to '50-50' power sharing formula Shiv Sena is referring to.

Addressing a group of reporters, Fadnavis agreed that Sena did offer a 50-50 formula when negotiations were being done between the two parties, but BJP never accepted it.

"Our party president has confirmed nothing has been decided on giving the chief minister’s post to Shiv Sena. No formula has been decided yet," Fadvanis said.

Hours before Devendra Fadnavis came up with a firm reaction to Shiv Sena's demand; Sena leader Sanjay Raut issued a warning to its alliance partner that it could consider “other options”.

The Sena’s Sanjay Raut did not spell out what these options might be. In the BJP camp, the increasingly shrill pitch from the Sena camp is seen as an old tactic by the recalcitrant ally as part of its negotiating strategy.

In Maharashtra, BJP had emerged out as the single largest party in the recently concluded Assembly Elections with 105 seats in 288-member assembly. The party is 40 MLAs short of the majority mark. The Sena, a pre-poll ally of the BJP, is the second largest party with 56 seats. Together, they have a majority.