Maharashtra: Union Cabinet recommends President's rule

New Delhi, Nov 12: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday recommended President's rule in Maharashtra where no political party has been able to form a government after the assembly polls last month.

PTI Sources said the Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met here this afternoon to discuss the political impasse in Maharashtra and decided to recommend to the president to impose Central rule in the state.

After the meeting, the prime minister left for Brazil to attend the BRICS summit.

The Shiv Sena was given just 24 hours to form the government, while the BJP got 48 hours. The Governor can't decide who has a majority. This is to be decided on the floor of the House, the Shiv Sena said in the Supreme Court.

As the deliberations for government formation in Maharashtra reach a feverish pitch, the Congress has indicated it is keen on a chief minister from its ally NCP backed by the Shiv Sena. The move comes a day after the Sena, in an embarrassing turn of events, failed to get letters of support from the Congress and the NCP before the deadline set by the Governor who rejected its plea for three more days to do so.

The Shiv Sena on Monday suffered a setback in its efforts to cobble up a non-BJP government in the state with the Congress at the last moment announcing its decision to hold more talks with ally NCP on supporting the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

While Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray said two parties (Congress and NCP) have agreed "in-principle" to support the Sena-led government, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused additional time sought by his party to muster numbers.

Later, the NCP, which is the third largest party in the state, got an invite from the governor, asking it to express "willingness and ability to form government". With 54 MLAs, the NCP is the third largest party after the BJP (105) and the Shiv Sena (56) in the 288-member House, where the halfway mark in 145. The Congress has 44 MLAs.