“The Governor of Maharashtra Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari today asked the leader of elected members of the single largest party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Devendra Fadnavis to indicate the willingness and ability of his party to form the government in Maharashtra,” an official statement said.

During the elections, held last month, the BJP had emerged as the single-largest party with 105 seats. Devendra Fadnavis was elected as its legislative party chief on October 31.

“Elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly were held on October 21 and the results were declared on October 24. However, despite the passage of 15 days, no single party or alliance of parties has come forward to form the government.

“The Governor has therefore decided to explore the possibility of formation of Government and today asked the leader of the elected members of the single largest party, that is BJP, to convey its willingness and ability to form the government,” the official statement said.

Fadnavis, for now, is required to show his willingness to form the government. If he chooses not to then the governor is likely to ask the same from Shiv Sena, which is the second-largest party with 56 seats in the house.

If Shiv Sena also says no then the governor will go issue a similar letter to the third-largest party and NCP and so on and so forth. If any point, any party says that they are willing to form the government, the governor will ask them to bring partners to show their ability. If the claim holds water, they will go on to form the government. If no party says they have the ability to form a government then the state will go under President’s rule.

During the state assembly elections, held last month, the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena had emerged as clear winners with a total of 161 seats in their kitty.

But even after a fortnight, the two allies have failed to reach a power-sharing formula, as BJP has refused to relent to Shiv Sena’s demand of a rotational CM.

The BJP by itself had emerged as the single-largest party but had remained shy of the majority mark with 105 seats in a house 288 members.

Even if Devendra Fadnavis claims his stake to the power in Maharashtra on Saturday, he will have to solve the differences with Shiv Sena at the earliest to prove his majority in Maharashtra assembly.

However, news agencies PTI and ANI have reported that the governor has invited the BJP to form the government.