By Our Political Affairs Bureau
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: BJP – Shiv Sena –NCP: Who will man India’s Financial Capital? This was a big question now for all. The race to form Maharashtra govt has been facing new deadlines with BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP running after each other to form the Government.
After Sena leaders “expressed their willingness to form the government” but “could not submit the requisite letter of support”, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari called the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), to start the procedure on Monday.
The NCP called a meeting of its top party leaders soon after in Mumbai. In New Delhi, Sonia Gandhi chaired a meeting of the Congress Working Committee that felt that the party leadership should also hear out the party’s Maharashtra leaders before firming up its stand. The Congress will now hold another round of core group meeting on Tuesday at interim party president Sonia Gandhi’s residence over Maharashtra’s political situation.
Sharad Pawar also met with Uddhav Thackeray at a Mumbai hotel in the afternoon before the Sena chief’s seven-minute phone call with Sonia Gandhi.Sena had stepped up its efforts to form the government after the BJP, which has emerged as the single-largest party in Maharashtra assembly polls with 105 seats, declined to form the government on Sunday following differences with the former on power-sharing issues.
The BJP and Sena, pre-poll allies, were at loggerheads since the Maharashtra election results were announced on October 24. The two allies are in disagreement over sharing the chief minister’s post on a 50:50 basis. As the Sena was adamant on the arrangement, Devendra Fadnavis denied there was any such deal, leading to a breakdown in their talks.
