Even as the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena try to resolve issues linked to government formation in Maharashtra after the recently concluded Assembly elections, two independent MLAs have extended their support to Devendra Fadnavis and his party.
Mahesh Baldi, MLA from Uran constituency and Gondia MLA Vinod Agrawal declared their support to the BJP under the leadership of Fadnavis. Earlier, rebel BJP MLA Geeta Jain had also extended support for him.
At least five independent MLAs including Prahar Janshakti Party chief Bacchu Kadu, his party MLA Rajkumar Patel, Ashish Jaiswal, Narendra Bhondekar and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-backed independent MLA Shankarrao Gadakh have extended their support to Shiv Sena.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won an absolute majority in the Maharashtra Assembly polls with the former emerging as the single-largest party with 105 seats. Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the elections.
After the polls, Shiv Sena is adamant about the implementation of the 50:50 formula proposed by BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The formula is a rotational arrangement in which a Chief Minister from each party will split the five-year term equally.
"The important question is who will be the chief minister? When the Lok Sabha elections were held we had decided on the 50-50 formula in the state," said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.