Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar has convened a meeting of the party core committee in Pune on Sunday to discuss portfolio allocation in the possible coalition government of NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, which is currently under President's Rule.
Reports said a scheduled meeting of Pawar with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Sunday is unlikely to take place as the NCP meeting has been convened at 4 pm. News agency PTI said Pawar is likely to meet senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Monday or Tuesday to discuss the government formation. A meeting with Gandhi may happen later, the report said.
All the three parties are currently holding talks to form a coalition government in the state. The Congress and the NCP have already worked out a common minimum programme (CMP) with the Sena.
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President's Rule was imposed in Maharashtra after the BJP and the Sena, who contested the October 21 assembly polls together, were caught in a bitter stalemate over power sharing, with the national party failing to reach the halfway mark on its own and the Sena demanding for an equal division of power.
In the polls to the 288-member assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, a loss of 17 seats compared to 2014, while the Sena's tally also came down to 56 seats from 63. The NCP won 54 and the Congress bagged 44 seats. The term of the existing 13th state Assembly ends on November 9.
The Sena said on Saturday that it would not attend a meeting of NDA constituents on the eve of winter session of Parliament, making clear that its exit from the national-level BJP-led alliance was almost certain. The Sena also accused the BJP of having intentions to indulge in "horse-trading" in the state.
The Uddhav Thackeray's party reached out to the Congress-NCP combine for support after its alliance with the BJP collapsed.
Earlier in the day, a scheduled meeting between leaders of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress and Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was postponed. The scheduled meeting had triggered a speculation that the three parties might stake a claim to form government, but the leaders of the Sena and Congress maintained the interaction was restricted to discuss the farm distress.
Meanwhile, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP would form the government.
