Political instability guaranteed, President's Rule inevitable: Sanjay Nirupam's prediction

Mumbai, Nov 12: Congress' former MP Sanjay Nirupam, who has been extremely critical of his party in the last few months, minced no words and said that the political situation in Maharashtra is such that the "state is on the doorstep of President rule."

Not naming anyone in particular, Nirupam, a seasoned politician, warned the top leadership against stitching any alliance in a bid to form the government.

Congress has no moral responsibility to form a govt in Maharashtra, Nirupam tweeted.

On Monday, for a brief while, it seemed as if the Shiv Sena would be able to install its Chief Minister in the state with support from NCP and the Congress. Sena was to stake a government formation claim at 2.30 pm yesterday but when it became clear that the Congress would be able to finalise its stand by 4 pm, Uddhav Thackeray's party postponed its meeting with the Governor to 5 pm.

The answer from Congress never came. Sonia Gandhi was reportedly not convinced about lending support to Sena, an essentially 'Saffron Party'.

"Congress has no moral responsibility to form a govt in Maharashtra. Putting any blame on us for the instability is meaningless. Its the failure of BJP and ShivSena which has brought the state on the doorstep of President rule," Nirupam tweeted.

The Congress on Monday held back its support to a possible Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra and declared in a statement shortly before Sena's deadline was to end that the Congress would need more discussions with the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar.

BJP and Shiv Sena went to elections as allies, but after results were announced, the Uddav Thackeray-led party demanded '50-50' sharing of CM's post. The BJP is not willing to give up CM post. With Shiv Sena adamant on CM post for 2.5 years, and the BJP unrelenting, there is currently a deadlock.

In the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2019, BJP won 105 seats in the polls while ally Shiv Sena won 56. The NCP and Congress won 54 and 44 seats, respectively.