BJP waiting to see when MVA will declare it's in minority: Mungantiwar on Maha crisis

NAGPUR: As the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation is battling for survival in Maharashtra, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar on Tuesday suggested that the saffron party is waiting for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to declare that they don't have the numbers.

He reiterated that the BJP is in a wait-and-watch mode and that it does not need to prove a majority on the floor of the House as of now.

The political crisis triggered by Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde's rebellion with a majority of MLAs of his party entered the next phase with the Supreme Court on Monday keeping in abeyance the disqualification proceedings of 16 rebels before the Deputy Speaker till July 11 and also refusing to pass any interim order on the state government's plea that there should not be any floor test in the Assembly.

Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Mungantiwar said, "We have decided to wait and watch. Considering the present situation, a core team will be formed in the coming days, which will deliberate on the subject and then a decision will be taken."

The former finance minister further said that the BJP does not need to prove the majority as of now.

"The party is now waiting to see when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance will declare that it is in minority (that they lacked numbers in House)".

Asked if BJP MLAs from the Vidarbha region will be herded to Mumbai after holding a meeting of legislators in Nagpur, Mungantiwar maintained that he had not come to take the MLAs to Mumbai, and it was an organisational meeting to discuss ways to take welfare schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to people.