"Good news can be announced any moment," said a senior BJP leader on Wednesday when asked about the status of the impasse between the saffron party and its ally Shiv Sena over government formation in Maharashtra.
"There will be good news any moment over the government formation in Maharashtra," Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar, who holds Finance portfolio in the outgoing government, told the media.
"There will be a government of BJP-Shiv Sena only. We all will work together for farmers and our alliance will form the government," he added.
With the term of the current Maharashtra Assembly ending on November 9 and the government formation stalemate still unresolved, a delegation of the BJP would meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday.
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The delegation, to be led by BJP state unit president Chandrakant Patil, will meet Koshyari "with a message approved by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis," Mungantiwar said.
The BJP on Thursday appeared extending an olive branch to its warring ally.
"All types of tigers would be protected by the BJP. We will take care of them," Mungantiwar said in a veiled reference to the Sena whose emblem is a tiger.
He further said the alliance between the Sena and the BJP is like "H2O"- the chemical composition of water- which cannot be separated despite efforts by some people.
The senior leader added, "It will be known at the right time who is adamant in this alliance."
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Mungantiwar's recent remarks on the possibility of imposition of President's rule in the state in the event of the new government not taking shape had raised hackles of the Sena.
He also welcomed NCP president Sharad Pawar's statement that his party would sit in opposition. This would ultimately deny the BJP's warring ally, Shiv Sena, any extra leverage amidst the tussle over the formation of government in Maharashtra.
Earlier in the day, Pawar told reporters that a BJP-Sena government was the only viable option in the state in the given scenario.
After meeting senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut, the NCP chief ruled out joining the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in the new government with the outside support of the Congress. He also said he had been the chief minister four times and was not keen to hold the post again.
As the deadlock over the formation of government continued even 13 days after the assembly poll verdict, rumours are doing rounds that the NCP might support the Sena in forming a government while the Congress would either abstain or support from outside.
The stand-off continued as both the Sena and the BJP are not willing to let go their claims on the post of chief minister in the new government which has to be put in place before
November 9, when the term of the current Legislative Assembly comes to end.
Despite having the requisite numbers to form an alliance government, the BJP and the Sena so far have failed to resolve their differences on sharing of power.
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Both the parties had won 161 seats together in the 288-member Assembly, way above the halfway mark of 145.
