Shiv Sena's demands unacceptable, BJP not in favour of mid-term polls in Maharashtra: Amit Shah
New Delhi, Nov 13: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday said Shiv Sena's demands, including sharing the chief minister's post, were "unacceptable" to his party and rejected the opposition's criticism of President's rule in Maharashtra as "outright politics" to gain public sympathy.
In his first comments on the political crisis in the state, Shah, also the Union home minister, said he was not in favour of mid-term elections in the state and noted that all parties have six months to stake claim to form government if they manage a majority.
In his statement and tweets, he rejected Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's claim that the BJP had agreed to share the CM's post with the ally, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi many times and he "at least 100 times" had said in public during the assembly elections campaign that Devendra Fadnavis will again head the government if the saffron alliance gets a majority.
The Sena never questioned their assertions then but has now put forth demands which were unacceptable to the BJP, Shah said. "We got people's mandate but now our ally has made demands which are unacceptable to us."
He, however, in the statement did not touch on the details of the agreement between the two allies of 30 years, saying it is not the values of the BJP to bring to public what has been discussed in private.
Shah accused the opposition of doing "outright politics" over the Centre's decision to impose President's rule in Maharashtra, and asserted that if there was any party which has "suffered" it is the BJP as it has lost its caretaker government headed by Fadnavis.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari gave the parties 18 days to stake claim for forming government and then invited them as well but, Shah said in a series of tweets, none of them could prove a majority.
"Even today if any party has a majority, then it may meet the governor to stake claim," Shah said.
"The opposition's reaction to President's rule in Maharashtra is outright politics. The honourable governor has never compromised with constitutional norms," he said.
In a separate tweet posted by the BJP, Shah said he is not in favour of mid-term polls in the state.
He said President's rule was necessitated so that opposition could not accuse the governor of running an "indirect BJP rule" in the state and added that everybody now has six months to meet the governor for staking a claim if they have a majority.
The Centre on Tuesday brought Maharashtra under President's rule following a recommendation from the governor. The Sena and the Congress have attacked the governor for recommending President's rule in the state and accused him of working at the behest of the BJP.
Koshyari had invited the three largest political parties, the BJP, the Sena and the NCP, to put forth claim to form government but all three of them expressed their inability.
The state has plunged into a political crisis after the Sena broke its ties with the BJP after the latter did not agree to its demand to share the post of chief minister with it.
Sena president Thackeray has claimed that the BJP had agreed to "50-50 deal" in power, including the CM's post, and he has now been negotiating with the rival Congress-NCP alliance to form government.
The BJP, the Sena, the NCP and the Congress won 105, 56 54 and 44 seats respectively in the 288-member assembly.
The BJP-Sena combine headed the last government with Fadnavis as chief minister.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
