The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest part in a state election in Maharashtra last month, and was expected to comfortably retain power with the help of its regional ally, the Shiv Sena. On Sunday, the BJP's state president Chandrakant Patil said his party had decided to not stake claim to form government. "We have required numbers to form the government and we will prove it," the Shiv Sena official said, declining to be named. Whereas the BJP and Shiv Sena share Hindu nationalist sentiments, Shiv Sena's political base in Maharashtra is the Hindu Marathi community. Leaders from the opposition Congress Party and the Nationalist Congress Party were meeting separately on Monday to decide on the possibility of an alliance with the Shiv Sena.

Source: bd News24 November 11, 2019 06:32 UTC