President's Rule could have been averted if BJP kept its promise on 50:50 formula: Shiv Sena

Mumbai, Nov 13: The Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece Saamana took a potshot at the BJP on Wednesday for allowing President's Rule to be imposed in Maharashtra and said the situation could have been averted had the saffron party kept on its promise.

"The mandate has been given to both the parties. The policy that the two put together has got this mandate. The BJ were not ready to accept this, that is why we had to take this step to maintain the pride of the land of Maharashtra," the NDA ally said in it editorial.

"Why should anyone blame us for this? It is said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is a party with elements, morals and rituals, so in the context of Maharashtra, they should have followed the same elements and rituals. The situation would not have been avoided if the BJP had kept its promise," it added.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had earlier said the Congress, the NCP and his party will work out a formula for formation of the government in Maharashtra facing political uncertainty for nearly three weeks now. Attacking the BJP over its claim that the Sena was in touch with the Congress-NCP since the October 24 poll results, Thackeray said he had allied with the chief NDA constituent in its "dark times".

The Sena president took a dig at Governor B S Koshyari over denial of more time to drum up support for government formation in the state, where President's rule was imposed on Tuesday evening. The Sena had failed to produce the required letters of support of the NCP and the Congress when it met the Governor on Monday night to stake a claim to form government.

The Sena, with 56 seats, is the second largest party after the BJP (105). If it comes together with the NCP (54) and the Congress (44), the three parties (with their combined tally of 154) can easily breach the majority mark of 145 in the 288-member house. The state plunged into political uncertainty following the BJP-Sena tussle over power-sharing though their alliance got a comfortable majority in the October 21 Assembly polls.