Amid the uncertainty over sharing of the chief minister’s (CM) post for 2.5 years, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray assured party workers that there would be “equal sharing of responsibilities” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if the alliance is voted back to power in 2019, meaning the two parties would have their CM for equal number of years.

Since the announcement of the alliance between BJP and Sena last week, a section of Sena workers feel that the party has got a raw deal, with no clarity on splitting the post of CM. In a bid to assuage the fears of party functionaries, Thackeray met district-level functionaries.

Thackeray, while addressing district level functionaries on Saturday, said he has discussed the CM post with BJP chief Amit Shah, before the alliance was finalised. He told party workers that whoever has “doubts” over Sena getting a CM post for 2.5 years should first understand the meaning of “equal sharing of responsibilities”.

CM Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday too said the power-sharing agreement has been discussed with Thackeray before the alliance was finalised. When asked if the Sena can have its CM for 2.5 years, Fadnavis said, “We have spoken very clearly on this issue in the press conference [when alliance was announced].. If there is a difference in what Ramdas ji (Kadam) said and what Dada (Chandrakant Patil) said, then what Uddhav ji or
I said should be taken as truth.”

First Published: Feb 25, 2019 06:07 IST