Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut meets NCP chief Sharad Pawar amid BJP-Sena tussle in Maharashtra

Raut dismissed the meeting as a "courtesy call", but the NCP said an "alternative" could be worked out if the BJP-Shiv Sena ties snapped.

File photo of Shiva Sena's Sanjay Raut | ThePrint

Mumbai: Amid the stand-off over government formation in Maharashtra, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut meet NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday.

“This was a courtesy call,” Raut told reporters later.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena are locked in a bitter tussle over sharing of the chief minister’s post and ministerial portfolios in new government in the state.

There has been no headway in government formation after results of the state Assembly polls were declared on October 24 in which the BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena-56, NCP- 54 and Congress-44.

Raut, who is a Rajya Sabha member, earlier said his party was firm on a written assurance from the senior alliance partner over power sharing, including rotation of the chief minister’s post for two-and-a-half years.

He also claimed that there was a “consensus” between the BJP and the Shiv before the Maharashtra Assembly polls on sharing the chief minister’s post.

The NCP on Tuesday said a political alternative can be worked out in the state if the Shiv Sena declared that it had snapped ties with the BJP.

Sources in the NCP said their party wants Arvind Sawant, the lone Shiv Sena minister in the Union government, to resign before going ahead further with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.