MUMBAI: In a development that has put question mark over Shiv Sena joining BJP Government in Maharashtra, the party has decided to boycott Sunday’s swearing-in ceremony of ministers to be inducted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. Shiv Sena has demanded that the issue of power sharing in Maharashtra be resolved before the vote of trust. If the BJP fails to communicate over the Sena demand positively, then the party is certain to boycott the swearing in ceremony, said the sources.
While conveying its decision in this regard, Shiv Sena has said that it will vote against the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led BJP Government and is ready to sit in opposition. Moreover, the party has further said that no ministers from its quota will join the Modi Government, said the sources.
Even though induction of Shiv Sena’s Anil Desai is certain, the party has said that if respectable positions in State ministry are not given then Desai will also not take oath on Sunday.
It will entirely depend on the outcome of talks for power sharing in Maharashtra. If it does not get resolved amicably and honourably, the party will decide its future strategy accordingly, Shiv Sena said, hinting at snapping ties with the National Democratic Alliance,
Another flashpoint in ongoing tussle is that Shiv Sena took a strong objection to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s proposal to appoint a Chief Executive Officer for Mumbai, alleging that the move was meant to further the BJP’s agenda of separating the mega city from Maharashtra.
Moreover, Shiv Sena is apparently unhappy with the BJP’s plans to induct former union minister and technocrat Suresh Prabhu into the Union Cabinet and give him a plum portfolio. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to be keen to induct Prabhu – whose performance in critical ministries in the NDA-I had been praised by all parties – and may give him the responsibility of the Railways portfolio.
The Shiv Sena is using pressure tactics by hobnobbing with the Nationalist Congress Party in a bid to change the state power equations. The party leaders had recently met Ajit Pawar who had on record said that the Congress had approached the NCP for help to install a Shiv Sena Government with outside support from the two parties – Congress and NCP – as it fitted in the numbers game in the 288-member Assembly.
