A series of meetings between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena on Monday signaled a possible end to the ongoing tussle between the two parties over power-sharing in Maharashtra. Sources said that according to a new arrangement, Shiv Sena has been offered four Cabinet seats and eight minister of state berths in the state government. However, Sena leaders are tight-lipped about the matter and another series of meetings are expected to go on late into the night.
At the time of going to press, this correspondent got reports that a late night meeting will be attended by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray himself along with senior leaders Subhash and Anil Desai.
Monday's meeting was a part of a series of interactions between the two parties raising speculations of ties being on the mend. The BJP has been trying hard to bring Shiv Sena in the government as a post-poll alliance before the winter session, which commences on December 8.
The Shiv Sena had claimed the post of the Leader of the Opposition's post in the Maharashtra Assembly after the BJP refused to give key Cabinet posts to the party. While Sena has been adamant on taking the deputy chief minister's post and some key portfolios for its leaders, BJP seems to have made it clear that it won't part with important portfolios like home, revenue and urban development.
The Sena has been offered any four departments out of 17 odd departments like health, energy, tourism, industries, water supply, MSRDC, environment etc.
Fadnavis had earlier also expressed his desire to have Sena as part of the government. "BJP wants that Sena join the government. We fully favour this," he had said.
There were reports of a deal being reached between BJP president Amit Shah and Uddhav, with Sena likely to get 10 berths in the Fadnavis government, including four of Cabinet rank. However, there is no confirmation of the same.
The power-sharing formula has been worked out in a 2:1 ratio. For every two ministerial berths, Sena would get one. Which means that in the 36-minister team, BJP will have 24 ministers, while Sena will have 12 ministers. In the first expansion, Sena will get only four ministers on board, which is likely to be held on December 3.
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