Mumbai: After the acrimonious three months in which they called each other names, the BJP and the Shiv Sena are friends again.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday made the official announcement about the Shiv Sena joining the government.
“The BJP and the Shiv Sena have been alliance partners for 25 years. We could not fight the 2014 Assembly election together. But the mandate given by the people was against the Congress-NCP government and it was in favour of the BJP and the Sena to form the government. Now we have finalised the framework in which the BJP-Sena alliance government will work and decided to jointly run the government,” Mr Fadnavis said.
Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai also confirmed the party’s decision to join the government. “We have come together to respect the people’s mandate,” he said.
The CM informed that there will be 12 Sena ministers in his government, out of which five will get Cabinet ranks and seven will be ministers of state.
“10 Sena ministers will take oath on Friday. About eight to 10 BJP ministers will also take oath at the same time. The remaining Sena ministers will be included in the second expansion of the Cabinet,” he said.
According to sources, Subhash Desai, Diwakar Raote, Deepak Sawat, Ramdas Kadam and Eknath Shinde are likely to get the Cabinet rank.
Mr Raote, Mr Sawant and Mr Kadam are members of the Legislative Council, while Mr Desai is not member of the either of the Houses.
