NEW DELHI, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Hectic political parleys are on in India's south-western state of Maharashtra even as the Shiv Sena (SS), the three-decades old ally of the India's ruling alliance, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has made up its mind to move out of the alliance and form a new government in the state with the support of the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Currently, the INC and the NCP are two of the Opposition political parties in Indian politics.
The SS and the BJP have been having differences ever since the conclusion of last month's Maharashtra Assembly elections. The SS alleged that the BJP didn't keep its promise of sharing the chief minister's post with it in the next term of five years.
Bickering between the two parties had been going on since Oct.24 when Assembly elections results were announced, throwing a hung Assembly with no one party getting a simple majority.
SS' leader, parliamentarian and Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Arvind Sawant on Monday morning tweeted that he had decided to step down as centre government minister.
According to the latest media reports, Sawant is learnt to have submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging the BJP of "betrayal."
In Mumbai, SS chief Uddhav Thackeray met his party legislators and appealed them to remain united.
Meanwhile, the INC herded its newly-elected Maharashtra legislators from Jaipur, the capital of western state of Rajasthan where the legislators were kept at a hotel, to New Delhi to arrange a meeting with INC president Sonia Gandhi and chalk out their next steps towards formation of the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the SS and the NCP.
In New Delhi, Sonia Gandhi had several rounds of meetings with senior leaders of her party.
The Maharashtra Assembly has a total strength of 288 legislators. In the just-concluded elections, the BJP had won in 105 constituencies, while the SS won 56, the NCP 54 and the INC 44.
If put together, the SS, the NCP and the INC has a strength of 154 legislators, which is enough to form the new government in the state.
At the Centre, the ruling NDA has got a total strength of 353 parliamentarians, out of which the SS had 18 parliamentarians. With the SS having decided to move out of the Alliance, the NDA will be left with a support of only 335 parliamentarians. The SS' decision to move out will, however, not affect the Narendra Modi government as its strength is much more than the half-way mark of 272, in the 545-strong Lok Sabha (the lower house of parliament).
