Will declare strategy if no one else forms govt: Raut

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said his party would declare its next strategy once no one else is able to form government in Maharashtra. Talking to reporters here, Raut said his party welcomes the decision of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to invite the BJP to form government in the state.

"Now, with the governor's intervention, we hope the state will get a government," he said. "The single largest party had to be called. We fail to understand why the BJP did not stake claim in 24 hours (after results) if it was confident that it had the majority," the Rajya Sabha member said.

On the Shiv Sena's future course of action, Raut said, "Let the picture be clear on the first step by the governor. The Shiv Sena will declare its strategy if no one else is able to form the government." He said Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will be meeting the party MLAs at 12.30 pm on Sunday. On posters put up by Sena workers near Thackeray's residence here demanding that he be the chief minister, Raut said, "Uddhav Thackeray is the Shiv Sena leader and he will take an appropriate decision at the right time. He has already said he will make a Shiv Sainikthe CM." The BJP won 105 seats in the October 21 elections, while the majority mark in the 288-member Assembly is 145.

Its ally Shiv Sena has won 56 seats, but the two parties are bickering over the chief minister's post.