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The souring relationship between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its former ally Shiv Sena on Thursday deteriorated further after the latter decided not to attend the swearing-in ceremony of chief minister-designate Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, party’s 63 legislators and other leaders will skip the swearing-in ceremony, which will also be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
The Shiv Sena took an aggressive stand after BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy declared in New Delhi that only BJP members will take oath of office and secrecy and there won’t be any member from the Shiv Sena.
Rudy's announcement led senior party leaders to go into a huddle and take stock of the situation. Further, there was rising pressure from the party's legislators not to further bend before the BJP which they claimed was determined to insult Shiv Sena after winning 121 seats.
Shiv Sena sources said they were expecting favourable response from the BJP for induction of at least two party members in the Fadnavis-led cabinet tomorrow.
An agitated Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut told Business Standard: ''No Shiv Sena leader wil attend the oath-taking ceremony tomorrow. We have been constantly humiliated by the BJP, which has not gone down well with our legislators. When party legislators are of the view that we have not got any respect, why should we attend the oath-taking ceremony.''
Raut revealed the party's decision after meeting Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshree.
BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar, who was closeted with party veteran Eknath Khadse, declined to comment on Shiv Sena's decision not to attend tomorrow's swearing-in ceremony. ''Devendra had called up Uddhav on Wednesday when he was formally invited for tomorrow's oath-taking ceremony. Talks were held in a cordial manner,'' he said.
Another Shiv Sena leader, who did not want to be named, said the BJP's attitude had completely changed after breaking their 25-year-old alliance before assembly poll and especially after its emergence as the single largest party.
''There has not been any formal invitation by BJP's top leadership for talks with Uddhav. Talks were currently on at the level of BJP minister Dharmendra Pradhan and senior leader OP Mathur. However, party general secretary JP Nadda declared two days ago that talks will further go on and therefore it won't be possible for BJP to accomodate Shiv Sena members in the council of ministers. This was reiterated by Rudy today,'' he said.
He admitted that the BJP seems to have taken a stand it will not take Shiv Sena's help to prove majority on the floor of House especially when Nationalist Congress Party has already announced its support from outside.
Meanwhile, a three-day session of the 13th assembly is expected to take place between November 11 and 13 in Mumbai. During the session, all 287 (BJP's Govind Rathod died on Sunday) will take oath as member of the state assembly which will be followed by the governor's address.
Further, the election of new speaker will take place on November 13 and on the same day one line confidence motion will also be moved.
