NCP: Decision on govt formation in two days

PUNE: The NCP has said a final decision on the formation of the next government in Maharashtra by the proposed Congress-NCPShiv Sena ally will be taken in the next couple of days. Nawab Malik, the NCP national spokesperson, told media NCP president Sharad Pawar will meet interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday, followed by a meeting of the top leaders of both the parties on Tuesday.

“Thereafter, the govt formation process will be finalised,” Malik said. Malik made it clear the objective was to give “a stable govt” to the state and any decision would be taken only in consultation with the Congress in the matter.

He said the NCP core committee meeting presided over by Pawar included several top state leaders and discussed in-depth the prevailing political scenario in the state and the govt formation.

In a related development, BJP’s union MoS for consumer affairs, Raosaheb Danve-Patil, said there is a possibility of the BJP-Sena returning to power again soon with a BJP CM. “Such a situation would not have arisen had Balasaheb Thackeray been alive today. We shall work according to the formula agreed upon by him and the late Pramod Mahajan,” DanvePatil

said, adding, as per the formula of 1995, the party with higher number of MLAs would get the CM post while the other ally with lesser number of seats would get the deputy CM post.

Ramdas Athawale, the RPI president and union MoS for social justice, declared it would not be possible for the Sena to form a govt in alliance with Cong-NCP.

“They cannot form a govt with Congress-NCP... It is better if the Sena returns to the BJP-fold and forms the government as soon as possible for the progress of the state,” Athawale said, adding after he requested BJP chief and union home minister Amit Shah to mediate in the matter, Shah had told him not to worry as everything will be sorted out and a BJPSena govt will come to power.

Meanwhile, sources indicated most aspects pertaining to govt formation among the prospective partners, Sena-NCP-Congress, have been already finalised and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is likely to be the next CM.

There are purported grand plans in the offing for a swearing-in ceremony in Mumbai with the probable presence of several nonBJP chief ministers from different states, though the full details are still being worked out. —Agencies