Uddhav Thackeray dismayed by Fadnavis' 'no 50-50 promise' remark'

he Sena camp insists that a 50:50 formula was decided on between CM Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray at a meeting where even BJP leader Amit Shah was present. File pic

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is not happy with Devendra Fadnvais' statement that the BJP had not promised 'fifty-fifty' formula to the Sena for power-sharing. According to party sources, Uddhav Thackeray expressed his disappointment over Fadnavis' statement on the 'fifty-fifty' formula for power-sharing in Maharashtra.

Thackeray spoke at a meeting held at the Sena headquarters in Dadar where newly-elected MLAs of Shiv Sena elected senior leader Eknath Shinde as leader of the party's legislative wing. According to the sources, Thackeray also spoke about the fact that he put forth his intention of getting a larger share of power in the saffron alliance government compared to the 2014 arrangement.

The source further said that the Sena chief informed the party's legislators about the BJP party not offering any power-sharing formula for government formation yet. Recently, Devendra Fdanavis put tp rest the speculations about what was decided among the BJP and Sena before polls. On Tuesday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that to the best to his knowledge, the ally wasn't promised a CM's post for two and a half years during the pre-Lok Sabha alliance meeting which was held in February this year.

While speaking to the media persons at a Diwali get-together at his official residence Varsha in South Mumbai, Fadnavis said, "When we (the BJP and Sena) had a pre-Lok Sabha meeting, the Sena had proposed rotating the chief minister's post but no decision regarding it was taken then in my presence. It should be known to party president Amitji Shah and Sena president Uddhavji Thackeray."

On Wednesday, Fadnavis was re-elected as the leader of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Legislature Party. All 105 newly-elected BJP MLAs were present at the meeting, where Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and party vice president Avinash Rai Khanna were present as central observers.

After being elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party, Fadnavis thanked party MLAs for reposing faith in him and giving him another chance to serve the state. He also thanked Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.

The saffron alliance won an absolute majority in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly Elections. While BJP emerged as the single largest party in the state with 105 seats, Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the elections.

With inputs from PTI

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