NCP-Cong meet postponed, to be held today
| Date :20-Nov-2019 |
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI :
THE national capital continued to be the centre of activities about Government formation in Maharashtra on Tuesday, but with no clear-cut arrangement emerging, it looks unlikely that a new regime will be in place in the western Indian State anytime soon. Results of the October 21 Assembly polls were declared on October 24 and President’s rule was imposed in the State on November 12 after no party or combine staked claim to form the new Government.
A meeting with the Congress scheduled on Tuesday in Delhi to further discuss the possibility of Government formation in Maharashtra was called off due to pre-occupation of Congress leaders with Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary events, NCP leader Nawab Malik said. He said Congress leaders requested that the meeting be postponed to Wednesday. The two sides have deputed leaders for holding talks on a possible alliance. Accordingly Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel and Congress general secretary K C Venugopal besides some State leaders and Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil of the NCP were to meet to explore the possibility of an alliance with the Shiv Sena in the State. NCP President Sharad Pawar had a meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday. Pawar said if the NCP-Congress have to take a view on Government formation, they have to first discuss it between themselves and with smaller allies. In the Maharashtra polls, the BJP-Sena alliance secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively in the 288-member Assembly.
The Congress and the NCP, pre-poll allies, won 44 and 54 seats respectively. However, failing to evolve a consensus over the Chief Minister’s post, the BJP and Sena parted ways, with the Sena exploring the possibility of tying up with the Congress- NCP. In Delhi on Tuesday, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said a Shiv Sena-led alliance Government will be in power in Maharashtra early next month. It will be a stable Government, he added.
Name of likely alliance with Sena, its contours to be discussed today Raut said there are no doubts in the Sena on the Government formation, but it is the media which is creating confusion. “It needs a 100 births to understand Pawar,” Raut said, when asked about the NCP chief’s virtual about-turn on the question of Maharashtra Government formation by three parties Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP on Monday at a media briefing at his residence in the national capital. Meanwhile, amid cautious approach by the NCP-Congress over Government formation in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has called a meeting of all its MLAs and senior leaders in Mumbai on November 22, said a party leader on Tuesday. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will address the meeting which is expected to deliberate on action in the backdrop of the three main non-BJP parties making efforts to form Government in Maharashtra.
Name of likely alliance with Sena, its contours to be discussed today: NCP and Congress leaders are expected to discuss a myriad of issues - right from the name of their likely alliance if they join hands with the ideologically opposite Shiv Sena to the contours of their tie-up in the coming polls in their meeting scheduled for Wednesday, an NCP leader said. The Congress and the NCP are not comfortable with the name ‘Maha Shiv Aghadi’ (a grand alliance comprising the Shiv Sena), the leader said. “We don’t want name of any party in the alliance. Even in the NDA and the UPA alliances don’t have names of parties,” the leader added. The Congress-NCP alliance is known as ‘Aghadi’ (front) and the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI and other smaller parties are known by the term ‘Mahayuti’ (the grand alliance).
Sonia Gandhi discusses Mah political situation with senior Cong leaders
New Delhi :
CONGRESS Interim President Sonia Gandhi held a meeting with senior party leaders A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal on Tuesday as the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP closed in on a deal for Government formation in Maharashtra with the issue of power sharing among the three parties being resolved within. Sources say that NCP is still pushing for the rotational arrangement for the top post but the first term of Chief Ministership is likely to go to the Shiv Sena. The deliberations on power sharing will be finalised by the high-powered committee for the three parties in this week and the final stamp will be put by the leaders of all the three parties.
Congress-NCP leaders to meet in Delhi to give final shape to CMP
NEW DELHI :
THE leaders of Congress and NCP are slated to meet in Delhi in a “day or two” to give final shape to the Common Minimum Program (CMP) of both the parties. “The final draft will be vetted by the top leadership of both parties before taking it for further discussion with Shiv Sena and the timeline has not been decided for the process,” said a source. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar met Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi on November 18 and denied having finalised any CMP with Congress and Shiv Sena for the Government formation in Maharashtra.
The politico added that they will monitor the situation in the state which is currently under President’s Rule. On November 15, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that the CMP being prepared with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress will be in the interest of Maharashtra and reiterated that the Government in the state will be made under his party’s leadership.