President's rule in Maharashtra would mean disrespect to people of state: Sanjay Raut

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Nov 8 (ANI): Amid uncertainty looming over the government formation in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said that if President's rule is imposed in Maharashtra, it will be disrespect to people of the state.
"Party with a larger majority will form the government but if President's rule is imposed in Maharashtra, it will be disrespect to the people of the state. This is extremely wrong and it is against the constitution," said Raut.
"I always remember Atal Bihari Vajpayee's message that we will not run away, we will fight and ultimately win. So, Maharashtra will never bow down," he added.
On being questioned over Congress' ploy in connection with the current political situation, Raut stated that if someone is trying to run 'Karnataka pattern' in Maharashtra then they won't be 'successful' in this attempt.
"Why is Congress scared? What is happening behind the curtain? Is an attempt being made to repeat the Karnataka pattern here? But whoever is trying to run such patterns won't be successful in their attempt," said Raut.
This came after Congress leader Husain Dalwai stated that all Congress MLAs are together and no MLA will break away from the party.
Hitting out at its ally BJP for causing delay in forming government in Maharashtra on 50:50 formula, Raut on Thursday had said that the BJP wants to bring the state under President's rule.
"The term of the current Assembly will end on November 8. The government should be there before that. BJP being the single largest is not forming the government. It clearly means BJP is not able to secure a majority and wants to impose President's rule forcefully," Raut told reporters here.
"This is an insult to people of Maharashtra. BJP should say that they can't form the government and will sit in Opposition. You (BJP) are creating a path for the president's rule. They are going against Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and BR Ambedkar. You (BJP) are creating a situation that nobody can form the government. This is against the Constitution," he added.
The Shiv Sena leader challenged the BJP to go ahead and form the government alone if it has the numbers.
The BJP and Shiv Sena, who are partners in the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, had fought the assembly polls together. While the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the recently held elections, it is yet to stake a claim for government formation.
The BJP won 105 seats while Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
Even after getting the required numbers to form the government, there has been a delay in cobbling up a coalition as Shiv Sena has insisted that the two parties had a '50-50' power-sharing agreement before the elections.
On the other hand, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that Shiv Sena was not promised the chief ministerial post for two-and-a-half years when the alliance was sealed before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. (ANI)