BJP and Sena are together: CM in Assembly

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Wednesday said the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena would stay united.

"With the Sena and BJP being together, the Congress-NCP combine will have to sit in Opposition for another 10 to 15 years," the chief minister said in the Legislative Assembly.

He was responding to Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil's (Congress) dig at the Sena for its "silence" on the upcoming Nanar refinery and Sammriddhi corridor projects.

"Their (Sena's) resignation letterslie into the Sarayu river now," Vikhe Patil said.

Looking in direction of Vikhe Patil, Fadnavis said, "You don't worry. Both of us (Sena and BJP) are together and there is no need for any resignations".

"Since we both are together, you stand no chance (to return to power). You will have to sit there (on Opposition benches) for another 10 to 15 years", he said.

Senior Sena leader Ramdas Kadam had famously said last year that he and his colleagues in the BJP-led government are carrying resignation letters in their pockets and waiting for the party chief's directions.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has been opposing the Nanar refinery project on the grounds that it is against the interest of the farmers and would destroy ecology in Ratnagiri district in the coastal Konkan region.

The party had tried to stall acquisition of the farm land for the state government's flaghship Samruddhi corridor project which envisages construction of a super-highway connecting Mumbai with Nagpur, a distance of over 700 kms.