Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party should form the government in Maharashtra when its leaders meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari the following day, PTI reported.

There has been no headway in government formation since the results of the Assembly elections were declared on October 24. The Sena has demanded an equal division of Cabinet portfolios, and the chief minister’s post for half of the government’s five-year term. The BJP has refused to acquiesce to the demand.

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Raut said Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray had not received any proposal from the saffron party. “We met the governor,” he told reporters in Mumbai. “Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale also met him. And if BJP leaders are meeting the governor [to stake claim to form the government], then they should form the government as they are the single largest party.”

Earlier in the day, six Shiv Sena ministers attended a Cabinet meeting convened by incumbent Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the agrarian crisis. After the meeting finance minister and senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said “good news” about government formation could be announced at any moment. “You cannot separate water, no matter how much you try to,” he told reporters. “Shiv Sena and BJP are together. We had a good meeting over the farmer’s issue today. We should wait for the news, the good news can come anytime.”

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition should form the government instead of plunging the state into a constitutional crisis. The saffron party won 105 seats in the elections while the Shiv Sena bagged 56 constituencies.

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The deadline for the government formation is November 9, when the term of the 13th Assembly will end. If a new government is not formed by then, President’s Rule can be declared.

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