Maharashtra Deadlock: Will not form govt, Shiv Sena can go ahead with NCP, says BJP

Mumbai, Nov 10: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said it would not stake claim to form the government in Maharashtra and accused the ally of "insulting" the people's mandate.

Announcing the BJP's decision, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, which is adamant on its demand for a rotational chief ministership, of "disrespecting" the popular mandate secured by the BJP and the Sena in recent assembly polls.

"The mandate of the people of Maharashtra was for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Sena has, however, disrespected the mandate, hence we have decided to not stake claim to form government. We have informed our decision to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari," Patil told reporters outside Raj Bhavan.

He wished "good luck" to the Sena if it wanted to form the government with the help of opposition Congress and NCP.

The BJP and the Sena had togther won 161 seats in the 288-member House, way above the halfway mark of 145.

Neither Sena, nor the BJP has the numbers to form government on their own. The Congress and the NCP, too, lack the numbers and both parties earlier said that they were ready to sit in the opposition.

The Sena won 56 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly and claim to have the support of 61 MLAs. The BJP won 105 seats. The Congress has 44 MLAs and its ally, Sharad Pawar's NCP, 54.