Best wishes if Sena wants to go with Congress-NCP, says BJP as it declines Maha governor's invitation to form govt

Declining Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's invitation to form government in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday said it was not going to go ahead with the government formation as it did not have the required number to prove the majority in the 288-member state assembly. 

The governor had on Saturday invited the BJP as the single-largest party in the state to form the government even as the deadlock with alliance partner Shiv Sena continued. 

Addressing the press after a BJP core group meeting on Governor's offer, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil said, "The mandate was given to us (BJP-Shiv Sena) to work together. If Shiv Sena wants to disrespect it and form the government with Congress-NCP then all our best wishes are with them."

The party's inability to shore up the required number has been conveyed to the governor after hectic meetings of the party core committee since morning, Patil said. 

With the BJP out of the way, the Shiv Sena is gearing up to form a government in the state with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and outside support from the Congress, sources said. 

Sena chief Udhav Thackeray will stake claim to form the government on Monday with the NCP's support. Congress is likely to support the minority Shiv Sena-NCP government from the outside, sources said. 

The NCP has offered support to Shiv Sena if Uddhav Thackeray himself becomes the chief minister, sources have said. 

The NCP offer is exclusively for Uddhav Thackeray as Maharashtra chief minister. Mr Thackeray is yet to respond to the offer, sources said. 

Since Shiv Sena has 56 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly, way below the half-way mark of 145, it will need both the NCP's 54 and Congress' 44 legislators to reach the magic number. 

Shiv Sena seems  confident of forming the government with senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut even saying that "there will be CM from Shiv Sena, at any cost."

"Party chief Uddhav Thackeray ji clearly said today that Chief Minister will be from Shiv Sena. If Uddhav ji has said so, then it means that there will be CM  from Shiv Sena, at any cost," Raut said. 

Shiv Sena and BJP contested the recently-held assembly elections together but failed to reach an agreement for government formation. 

The Shiv Sena's claim of 50-50 government formula, asking for the chief minister's post of two and half years has not been accepted by the BJP.

The BJP won 105 seats and Shiv Sena grabbed 56, together they have the numbers to form the government but both the parties have not been able to break the impasse on sharing the chief minister's post.

On Friday, with no end in sight to the standoff, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis submitted his resignation to the governor.