As the suspense over the government formation in Maharashtra continues, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday reasserted that his party will form the government in the state.
Taking a dig at its former ally, Raut said the BJP lost a friend and ally in Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance after the two parties failed to resolve the tussle over the power-sharing issue.
On Monday, Raut slammed the BJP for 'running away from responsibility' while reiterating that his party will soon form a government in the state.
"The responsibility to form a government in Maharashtra was not ours. The ones who had that responsibility ran away. However, I am confident that soon we will have a government in place in the state," Raut told reporters after meeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. While the speculations were rife the two leaders will discuss the government formation with Shiv Sena in the state, Pawar kept his cards close to his chest and said he had only discussed the political situation in Maharashtra with Sonia Gandhi.
He said the two parties will hold talks with their other allies, before taking a decision on government formation in the state.
Maharashtra was placed under the President's rule on November 12 after no party or alliance staked claim to form government in the state.
A day after the President's rule was imposed, Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP leaders held hectic parleys to work out a CMP for government formation.
At a joint press conference in Mumbai last week with the Congress leaders deputed by Gandhi to hold talks with him, Pawar had said the two parties would discuss and come up with a consensus on what should be the policies and programmes if the Sena was to be supported.
Congress leader Ahmed Patel had insisted that no final decision could be taken without the formulation of a CMP by the three parties.
Pawar's meeting with the Congress chief comes a day after the NCP's core committee held a meeting in Pune and resolved that the President's rule should end and an "alternative government" be formed in Maharashtra.
In the October 21 Maharashtra polls, the BJP-Sena saffron alliance had secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively in the 288-member Assembly. The Congress and the NCP, pre-poll allies, had won 44 and 54 seats respectively.
(With agency inputs)
