'Not a single Sena candidate who didn't use Modi's poster': Amit Shah accuses Uddhav Thackeray of betraying Maha mandate

Union Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray betrayed the people's mandate in Maharashtra.

''Shiv Sena insulted people's mandate and not the BJP," Amit Shah said.

"All I want to ask - Who broke the mandate? We didn't. We did neither camp our MLAs nor made them hostage in hotels. Those who made camps didn't do anything wrong? Those who broke alliances to form the government are not wrong? We are at the receiving end. The mandate is with us. We are not forming the government ... It is our fault," he added.

In a series of tweets, Amit Shah slammed the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance for forming the government in Maharashtra. He tweeted, "Isn't giving support in lieu of the chief minister's post greed? I want to tell Sharad (Pawar) Ji and Sonia (Gandhi) Ji that they should try saying that the chief minister will be theirs and then take the support of Shiv Sena. The coalition with about 100 seats is giving the chief minister's post to the 56-seat party, this is horse-trading."

"All Shiv Sena MLAs won the elections by fighting with us. There is not a single MLA from Shiv Sena who has not put up a poster of Modi ji. Don't all these people of the country and Maharashtra know?" he added.

Clarifying his stance on the alleged "50:50" formula promised by the BJP, which offered rotational Chief Minister position for 2.5 years to both BJP and the Shiv Sena, Amit Shah said, "We never gave any assurance to the Shiv Sena for the post of Chief Minister. Every time, even in the meetings where Aditya Thackeray or Uddhavji were on the stage with us, we said that Devendra Fadnavis will become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra."

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday night staked claim to form government in Maharashtra, soon after being elected as the leader of the Sena-NCP-Congress combine's 'Maha Vikas Aghadi'.

MLAs and leaders of the three parties met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and submitted letter declaring Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray as their leader.

Uddhav will take oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister on November 28. Many important leaders like UPA chief Sonia Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, DMK chief MK Stalin are invited to the swearing-in ceremony.

Earlier on the same day,  Devendra Fadnavis, who took oath as chief minister at a hastily organised ceremony at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning, resigned after the Supreme Court directed that the floor test for BJP government to prove majority in the assembly will be conducted on Wednesday. Ajit Pawar also resigned from the post.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP is the single-largest party with 105 MLAs, while the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress have 56, 54 and 44 members, respectively.