NCP keen to offer support to BJP as the party is examining various options to form government.
The BJP may have emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra but the party is falling short of majority required to form the government. The saffron party will have to rely on either Shiv Sena or other NCP to stake its claim in government formation. Nationalist Congress Party has offered support to the BJP. If the BJP accepts NCP’s support then it will have to bid adieu to its Hindutva stand and follow secular agenda. Moreover, NCP will also give a tough time the saffron party and interfere in the day to day functioning of the government. The party already is known for creating troubles for Congress during its reign in Maharashtra.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel said, “The NCP will support the BJP from outside. The voters have not given a clear verdict to any party in Maharashtra. The BJP has got most seats and we want stability in the state,” Patel said.
Last year NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had attended industrialist Gautam Adani’s son’s wedding reception in Goa.
The BJP said that it will examine the NCP’s offer of outside support to help it form a government in Maharashtra and take a decision on it.
“We are thinking on it. We will examine about reasons and conditions of their support to us. We will take a decision which is in the interest of Maharashtra,” state BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis.
On the other hand, RSS has opposed NCP offering outside support to BJP. Veteran BJP leader L K Advani was in favour of Shiv Sena aligning with BJP to form the next government.
“It would be better if they both come together and form the government,” the 87-year-old leader, now a part of the BJP’s Margdarshak Mandal, said.
“I never wanted this alliance to end, but still I am satisfied with the results,” Advani, one of the architects of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the 1980s, said.
Advani echoed his party’s ideological mentor, the RSS, whose M G Vaidya earlier said the BJP should not form an alliance with the NCP, and that it should mend fences with the Shiv Sena.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena is keen to patch up with BJP and resolve all differences which had arisen during the seat sharing issue. Sena has already said that there is no bitterness between both the parties.
“Once they submit a proposal for a stable government in the interest of Maharashtra, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will take a decision, whatever that may be, after considering all factors,” Sena MP Anil Desai said.
“We have no bitterness. If there is a proposal, we will consider it,” Desai, who was part of the failed seat-sharing talks with the BJP ahead of the Assembly poll, said.
Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “We have seen the trends. They show BJP is getting more seats, which is okay. But Sena is also doing well. I will comment on our stance after a clear picture emerges.”
Raut had earlier said on Sunday that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray should be the CM if the erstwhile allies return to tango.
