Fadnavis meets Guv, briefs him on political situation

As the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena continue to be locked in a tussle over power-sharing, BJP's chief ministerial candidate Devendra Fadnavis on Monday apprised Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari of the prevailing political scenario in the state.

Fadnavis and senior Shiv Sena leader and State Transport Minister Diwakar Raote separately called on the Governor.

Both the visits were "courtesy calls" to extend Diwali greetings, according to a Raj Bhavan spokesperson.

On Fadnavis' visit, the Raj Bhavan spokesperson said, "The Chief Minister exchanged Diwali greetings with the Governor."

On Raote's visit, the spokesperson said, "Raote extended his Diwali greetings to the Governor."

Fadnavis, in a tweet, said he met the Governor and wished him on occasion of Diwali. "Also apprised him on the current scenario," he tweeted.

Later in the day, the Republican Party of India (A) President and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, a key ally of the BJP, met Fadanvis and greeted him.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena fought in alliance in the recently concluded assembly elections and secured 105 and 58 seats respectively.

In the 288-seat Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, none of the parties are in the position to form the government on their own but going by tradition, the Governor may ask the single-largest party to come ahead.

The Shiv Sena, committing to an alliance with the BJP, has asked for a 50-50 power share and rotation of CM's post, with the two parties getting two and a half years each.

Many Shiv Sena MLAs demanded that Uddhav's son Aaditya, who won the polls from Worli, should be made the chief minister.

The newly elected Shiv Sena MLAs had held a meeting on Saturday that was presided over by Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray.

On Wednesday, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil will convene the BJP legislative party meet in which 105 newly elected MLAs will elect its new leader.

Since both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah had endorsed Fadnavis as the Chief Minister for the second term, he is most likely to get elected as BJP's leader of the legislative party

It is learnt that post the Diwali festivities, Shah will come to Mumbai to work out a deal but there has been no official confirmation.

On their part, both the parties are cobbling up the support of Independents and smaller parties to increase in numbers and improve their bargaining power.

Veteran activist and founder of Prahar Janshakti Party, Bachchu Kadu, an MLA from Achalpur and his colleague Rajkumar Patel, who won form Melghat, had extended their letter of support to the Shiv Sena.

The three Independent MLAs, who announced support to the BJP are -- Geeta Jain from Mira Bhayandar, Rajendra Raut from Barshi and Ravi Rana from Badnera.

OUt of the three, Jain and Raut are BJP rebels.

Rana's wife, Navneet Kaur Rana, a former actress-model, is an Independent MP from Amravati who had won with the support of the Congress-NCP combine.