Maharashtra Governor asks BJP to ‘indicate willingness’ to form govt

The BJP-Shiv Sena ally won 161 seats during the Maharashtra assembly election but were unable to come to an agreement over the chief minister's post.

File photo of Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis | PTI

Mumbai: Following the 15-day-long impasse, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday evening asked the BJP, the single largest party in the state, to “indicate willingness and ability” to form government.

Sources close to acting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is leader of state BJP’s legislature wing, confirmed that Fadnavis had received the letter from the Governor.

The BJP won 105 seats in the October 21 elections, while the majority mark in the 288-member Assembly is 145.

Its ally Shiv Sena has won 56 seats, but the two parties are bickering over chief minister’s post.

According to Raj Bhavan statement, the governor asked Fadnavis to “indicate the willingness and ability of his party to form the government”.

As no party had come forward to form the government, the governor decided to explore the possibility of formation of government on Saturday, the Raj Bhavan statement said.