End logjam, Shiv Sena leader urges RSS chief

Mumbai: Kishore Tiwari, chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavala-mban Mission (VNSSM), a state government agency, on Sunday urged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat to intervene and end the deadlock over the formation of government in Maharashtra.

“The mandate was in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance. But the BJP is not following ‘coalition dharma’. This has dela-yed the formation of new government in Mah-arashtra. Therefore, RSS should intervene and resolve the issue,” he said, adding that he will meet the RSS chief in the next two days.

Just ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election, Mr Tiwari had joined the Shiv Sena in presence of party president Uddhav Thackeray.  

The farm activist expressed his unhappiness over RSS’ silence over the issue and compared the Hindu nationalist organisation to the Mahabharata character ‘Dhritrashtra’.

Mr Tiwari claimed that office-bearers of the RSS, too, were not happy with the BJP for delaying the formation of the government.

“Late BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to say that Rajdharma must always be followed. Therefore, the BJP should follow ‘coalition dharma’,” he said.  

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, but without taking their names, the VNSSM chairman said, “Only two people are running the BJP. There is a duopoly. The BJP had given its word on the sharing of chief minister’s position. But why is the party not fulfilling its promise?” Mr Tiwari added.

He reiterated that the BJP should set a precedent by giving the chief minister’s position to the Sena since Hindutva was the common thread binding both parties.

In the recently concluded polls to 288-member state Assembly, the Shah-led BJP won 105 seats, and emerged as the single-largest party. Sena won 56 seats, while the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress won 54 and 44 seats, respectively.