Can we contest future elections with Shiv Sena as ally, asks Congress' Sanjay Nirupam

As Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena showed signs of a potential alliance to form government in Maharashtra, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Monday said that the political instability in the state cannot be ruled out.

The Congress leader also asserted that early elections are likely in Maharashtra and raised a question on contesting future polls with Shiv Sena as a partner.

"No matter who forms govt and how? But the political instability in Maharashtra cannot be ruled out now. Get ready for early elections. It may take place in 2020. Can we go to the elections with Shiv Sena as a partner?" he tweeted.

Nirupam had on Saturday warned Congress-NCP of a tie-up with Shiv Sena terming it as a disastrous move.

Earlier today, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant announced that he would resign from his position in the Union Cabinet.

After the BJP expressed its inability to form a government in Maharashtra on Sunday, the NCP laid down a set of conditions for the party to extend its support for a Shiv Sena-led government in the state, among which were severing ties with the NDA and having their ministers resign from the union cabinet.

The pre-poll NDA alliance 'Mayayuti' had received an absolute majority in Maharashtra after the BJP won 105 and Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.

NCP and Congress, on the other hand, have 54 and 44 seats in Assembly.