Prasad says BJP-led alliance won under Fadnavis, Shiv Sena broke 30-year-old alliance

The BJP said on Saturday that party-led alliance got "moral and electoral victory" in Maharashtra under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis and BJP supporters played a big role in the success of Shiv Sena's candidates in Maharashtra assembly elections.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP leader and union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that both Congress and Nationalist Congress Party had said that the mandate was for them to sit in the opposition and asked "how did it turn into mandate for match-fixing".

He also attacked the Shiv Sena and accused it of joining hands with its opponents.

"In Maharashtra elections, BJP-Shiv Sena alliance got the mandate and BJP was the bigger party. In the 2014 elections, BJP fought on 260 seats and won 47 per cent of those and got 28 per cent votes. In 2019, BJP fought on 150 seats and had a success rate of 70 per cent. Apart from this, the name of Devendra Fadnavis was projected as the CM candidate," Prasad said at a press conference here.

"In the success of Shiv Sena candidates too the BJP support base played a crucial role. Therefore, it was the moral and electoral victory of BJP-led alliance under Fadnavisji," he added.

Prasad dismissed accusations that BJP was committing "murder of democracy" by entering into an alliance with a group of NCP and referred to Shiv Sena joining hands with the Congress.

"When Shiv Sena breaks a 30-year-old alliance and tries to join hands with its opponents, is it not murdering democracy? But when a big group comes with Ajit Pawar to form a stable government under Fadnavis then it is called the murder of democracy," Prasad said.

He said Mumbai was the financial capital of the country there was an attempt to control it through the backdoor.

"Mumbai is the financial capital of India and Maharashtra is a big state. It was a conspiracy to control Mumbai through the backdoor," he said.

"Both Congress and NCP had publicly said they had got the mandate to sit in the opposition. The country should know how they entered in a match-fixing to grab the chair," he added.

In a surprise development, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Maharashtra Chief Minister for a second term while NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The oath was administered by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan.

The move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena on government formation had seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.

The BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party in last month's assembly elections, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.