New Delhi:
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a key party meeting in Delhi to discuss government formation in Haryana, where the BJP has won a majority, and in Maharashtra, where it is the largest party, BJP chief Amit Shah called up Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
With 123 seats, the BJP is 22 short of a majority in the 288-seat Maharashtra assembly and will need an ally. The Shiv Sena is set to finish a distant number two with 63 seats. Former partners Congress and NCP are neck and neck with 42 and 41 seats.
Mr Shah made the phone call after Mr Thackeray said the BJP had not contacted him. "They can get in touch if they want," said the Sena chief, adding, "If they want, they can go with the NCP". He was referring to Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party or NCP offering the BJP external support.
"The NCP has discussed how to give Maharashtra a stable government. Only the BJP has got more seats. Maharashtra needs a stable government with a link to the Centre. We have decided to support the BJP from outside," said senior party leader Praful Patel.
Senior BJP leaders have indicated that they see the most "natural fit" for government formation with the Shiv Sena, the party's ally for 25 years till they split last month over seat sharing.
Sources said the Sena, if invited, is agreeable to being given the deputy chief minister's post in a BJP-led government. That will reverse their arrangement when they had formed a coalition government in 1995.
The BJP has not said no to the NCP. Party chief Amit Shah merely pointed out that the NCP has offered "unconditional support" and it does not involve an alliance. He said the parliamentary board would pick from the BJP's options.
Mr Shah credited PM Modi with the party's unprecedented performance in both states and said, "Today's results show the Modi wave is still the tsunami that can crush all competition". He said it was proved beyond doubt that, "the people in India consider Narendra Modi their undisputed leader".
In Haryana, the BJP has won outright for the first time, handing the Congress a humiliating defeat after its 10-year rule of the state. The BJP will have a majority with 47 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress will not even be the principal opposition, coming in behind the Indian National Lok Dal, or INLD.
Mr Modi won the BJP a landslide victory in the national elections in May on a pledge to revive the ailing economy and clean up endemic corruption, but many reforms are yet to be introduced. Today's success will strengthen its power in the upper house of Parliament, crucial for passing contentious bills.
The BJP-led NDA currently lacks a majority in the Rajya Sabha, whose composition is based on seats won in state assemblies.
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