'Sharad Pawar won't be next Maharashtra CM, it will be from Shiv Sena'

Mumbai, Nov 05: As the BJP and Shiv Sena haggle over portfolios and the chief minister's chair, the one man grabbing the headlines is Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut. However, despite multiple high-profile meetings in New Delhi and Mumbai, including one between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, failed to give any indication of breaking the 11-day-long deadlock over government formation in Maharashtra.

On the latest development, senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raut on Tuesday said the party is in touch with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for government formation.

Speaking about the developments, Raut said the politics of Maharashtra is changing and the next chief minister will be from the Shiv Sena. "In our fight for justice, we will win," Sanjay Raut was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raut had earlier met Maharashtra Governor Koshyari on Monday evening.

After meeting the governor, Raut said that he informed the governor that his party is not to be blamed for the delay in government formation in Maharashtra.

Speaking to reporters outside Raj Bhawan, Raut said that he appraised the governor about the current political scenario in the state and urged that the government should be formed at the earlier.

Answering a question on whether Shiv Sena has demanded any change of CM candidate by the BJP, he said that his party has not made any such demand.

The meeting came at a time when the BJP and the Shiv Sena are engaged in a bitter tug-of-war over the latter's demand for equal distribution of portfolios and sharing the chief minister's post.

The BJP has rejected Sena's demand for sharing the chief minister's post for 2.5 years each. In the October 21 polls to the 288-member Assembly, the BJP won 105 seats followed by the Shiv Sena 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44.