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Differences with BJP sorted out, claims Joshi

Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today said the differences between the ruling partners, the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party in the state have been sorted out and there was no threat of their breaking up.

Joshi told mediapersons as part of his routine press conference after a weekly cabinet meeting in Bombay that the alliance between the Sena and the BJP will continue and the two parties will fight the next assembly election together.

The chief minister declined comments on any question regarding the short-lived crisis of last week triggered off by the BJP's boycott of the cabinet meeting, stating that the chapter was over and now his first and foremost effort was to keep both the ruling partners united and strengthen the alliance in preparation to face the next elections successfully.

Both the alliance partners, at the outset of today's cabinet meeting, made a pledge not to air differences in the public and if at all any, to resolve them within four walls, he added.

He said both the alliance partners had agreed to work with greater vigour for fulfilling the commitment of shivshahi, the welfare state concept based on the ruling philosophy of Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji, for achieving overall development and progress of the state and its people by implementing all its (alliance) promises made during the last election which brought them to power. He expressed confidence that the alliance will be re-elected to power again after the next election, which was just one and a half years away.

Earlier, asked by reporters about the allegation that the chief minister deliberately created a political crisis so as to consolidate his position later, Joshi said he did not believe in ''false'' politics.

Joshi said since he paid less attention to playing politics, his enemies were taking advantage of the situation. He said all the ministers today decided not to allow their political differences to aggravate and work unitedly for the state's development.

UNI

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