Alliance break-up: New Sena demands were not acceptable to us, says Shah

'No state has got as much time as Maharashtra for government formation'

Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Wednesday slammed former ally Shiv Sena for the breakdown of the alliance between the two parties. 

Shah also disputed Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s claims on rotational chief ministers and equal power sharing. 

Shah said the BJP had always said Devendra Fadnavis would be the chief minister (CM) in Maharashtra.

“Before elections, the Prime Minister and I said many times in public that if our alliance wins then Devendra Fadnavis will be the CM, no one objected back then. Now they have come up with new demands which are not acceptable to us,” Shah said in an interview to a news agency. 

On the imposition of President’s Rule in Maharashtra, Shah said, “Before this, in no state was so much time given... 18 days were given. Governor invited parties only after Assembly tenure ended. Neither Shiv Sena nor Congress-Nationalist Congress Party staked claim and neither did we. Even if today any party has the numbers, it can approach the Governor.”