\'Disastrous move\': Nirupam cautions Cong-NCP against tie-up with Sena

Mumbai: As the parties in Maharashtra move ahead towards government formation, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Monday said political instability ‘can’t be ruled out now’ in the state and early elections are likely.

Taking to Twitter, Nirupam said: "No matter who forms government and how? But the political instability in Maharashtra cannot be ruled out now. Get ready for early elections. It may take place in 2020. Can we go to the elections with Shiv Sena as partner?"

Nirupam, however, contradicted his statement and tweeted, "It was impossible for Congress-NCP to form any government in Maharashtra in the current political arithmetic. For that, we need Shiv Sena. And we must not think of sharing power with Shiv Sena under any circumstances. That will be a disastrous move for the party."

The government formation in Maharashtra has been intense due to the disagreement between the BJP and Shiv Sena. On Sunday, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asked the Shiv Sena to "indicate the willingness and ability" of the party to stake claim after the BJP declined the same offer a day earlier.

Congress leader Milind Deora even tweeted saying, "Maharashtra's Governor should invite NCP-Congress, the second largest alliance to form government now that the BJP-Shiv Sena have refused to do so."

Sanjay Nirupam, a former Mumbai Congress chief who was replaced by Milind Deora with only days to go before April's Lok Sabha polls, reminded the allies they simply do not have the numbers. The Congress and the NCP have 98 seats in a 288-member Assembly where the majority mark is 145. Any claim to form the government will require allying with the Sena, which won 56 seats.

The Sena and the BJP had fallen out over the former's demand that its ally honour a "50:50" deal allegedly agreed between Home Minister Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray before the Lok Sabha election. The BJP has flatly denied there was a deal and has further said it was not willing to cede the Chief Minister's post, for a 2.5 year period, to its ally; this has also been demanded by the Sena.

The relationship between the allies deteriorated rapidly since election results were declared on October 24.

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