The NCP and Congress party during an interview on Wednesday cleared that they will soon form an alliance government in Maharashtra but indicated that some issues need to be discussed. They are ready to form a stable Maharashtra Government by Friday.
“There cannot be any government in Maharashtra without the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress. We are trying our best to resolve issues,” said NCP leader Nawab Malik, addressing the media along with Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, who simply said the talks will continue. For the final round of talks, the Shiv Sena leadership will come to Delhi, the Congress said.
Shiv Sena Leader, Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said: “The work of forming a government [in Maharashtra] has started from today. A government will be formed in the coming four to five days Maharashtra feels that Uddhav Thackeray should be the chief minister. The Common Minimum Programme [CMP] will be discussed. The support of the MLAs has to be presented”
“Some details” of power-sharing with the Sena need to be sorted out while a common minimum agenda is almost done, Congress sources said. The crux of the agreement rests on the power-sharing formula and according to sources, the parties are in discussions to arrive at the consent of 16-15-12 cabinet berth formula, which includes the chief minister’s chair for the Sena — a demand over which it fell out with its Hindutva ally BJP.
Although, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi worried Congress a bit. This meeting comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the NCP party in the winter session of Rajya Sabha three days back.
Interestingly, Sonia Gandhi was reluctant in joining hands with Shiv Sena, which advocates ideologies of Pro Hindutva. When asked her about the coalition government on Wednesday she said: “No Comments.”
The BJP- Shiv Sena government formation failed due to Shiv Sena’s stance on Chief Minister’s Post and equal seats at Cabinet. BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44. Maharashtra is under President’s rule since November 12, after the parties failed to form the government.