Disagreements over portfolios hold back government formation in Maharashtra

The Bharatiya Janata Party's alliance partners in the Mahayuti in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party are indulging in tough bargaining, including demanding the portfolios of home, finance, public works department and speaker of the Assembly that the BJP seems unwilling to part with.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA & BADAR BASHIR

This is delaying the decision to form government in the state more than a week after the Assembly election results were declared.

While things are settled as far as the Chief Minister's position is concerned, with BJP getting that post and probably nominating Devendra Fadnavis, things are still being discussed regarding the Deputy CM's (DCM's) chair. As The Sunday Guardian had written last week, there will be two DCMs. One of them would be Ajit Pawar from NCP, while who would represent Sena is still not confirmed, with Eknath Shinde apparently stating that he doesn't want to be DCM.

A discussion had taken place involving Shinde, Pawar, Fadnavis and the BJP leadership including Amit Shah where the allies presented their demands. Another meeting is likely to be held in the coming two days to resolve the impasse. A final decision is unlikely to come before Tuesday though.

The BJP has won on 132 Assembly seats out of the 149 it contested, with more than an 85% success rate. The state has 288 Assembly seats.

The BJP wants the issues to be resolved amicably so that the state doesn't witness any political turmoil in the next five years.