Maharashtra power tussle: Various party MLAs extend support to Fadnavis

Several MLAs from various parties on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and extended support amid the ongoing tussle over the formation of government between BJP and Shiv Sena in the state.

The MLAs who extended their support are -- Kshitij Thakur (Nalasopara) of Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi, Shyamsundar Shinde (Loha) of Peasants and Worker's Party and Vinay Kore of Jan Surajya Shakti while the independent MLAs are -- Ravi Rana (Badnera), Sanjay Mama Shinde (Karmala), Geeta Jain (Meera Bhayander), Mahesh Baldi (Uran), Kishore Jorgewar (Chandrapur), Vinod Agarwal (Gondia), Rajendra Raut (Barshi) and Prakash Anna Awhade (Ichalkaranji).

Various issues were discussed during the meeting including loss and damage to crops due to unseasonal rain and steps taken by the state government to assist the farmers.

The Shiv Sena has been saying that there was a 50-50 power-sharing agreement between the two parties but Fadnavis has said that the party's ally was not promised the Chief Minister's post for two-and-a-half years when the alliance was finalised before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won an absolute majority in the Maharashtra assembly polls with the former emerging as the single largest party in the state with 105 seats. Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the elections.

NCP won 54 seats in the assembly while the Congress won 44 seats in the 288-member assembly.