Sena leaders meet to decide strategy ahead of Assembly session

Even as discussions with Bharatiya Janata Party over his party's role in the new Maharashtra government remained inconclusive, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday held a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai.

Sena leaders Anil Desai and Subhash Desai were present in the meeting at Sena Bhavan to discuss the party's strategy ahead of the state Assembly session starting on November 10, sources said.

The meeting assumes significance as it comes just a day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Sena representatives will not be inducted into the state's BJP government before it wins the trust vote.

"Pehle vishwas phir vistar (first the trust vote and then expansion)," Fadnavis had said on hen asked by reporters if Shiv Sena ministers would be inducted before his government seeks a trust vote in the Assembly on November 12.

Fadnavis' statement had peeved the Sena with a party MP saying BJP was not interested in getting it on board with respect and that Shiv Sena would sit in the opposition if no "respectable solution" to end the uncertainty over its participation in the government was found by Saturday.

With 63 MLAs, Shiv Sena is the second largest party in the 288-member Assembly after BJP's 121.