Less than 24 hours after the imposition of President’s Rule, efforts to form a non-BJP Government began in Maharashtra on Wednesday, as the Congress and the NCP initiated the process of drawing up a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) for a three-party Government and the leaders of the Sonia Gandhi-led party met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and initiated preliminary talks.
Both the NCP and Congress leaders nominated five leaders each to formulate a CMP for the three-party Government. “We (Congress and NCP) will sit across and formulate a CMP for the proposed three-party front. Once we are ready with the CMP and through with other issues relating to power-sharing, we will talk to the Sena leadership. We will take the Sena inputs and consent on the CMP subsequently,” a senior Congress leader said.
Simultaneously, NCP president Sharad Pawar held talks with his party leaders on the CMP and the power-sharing arrangement for the proposed Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress Government. The State Congress leaders held a similar meeting among themselves.
“We are looking at such a fool-proof CMP and power-sharing arrangement among the three parties that will help us provide a stable Government to the State for full five years. This is independent of our differing ideologies. We will work towards ensuring that our ideologies do not come in the way of running the three-party Government in the State,” a senior Shiv Sena leader said.
After days of uncertainty that had delayed the process of three non-BJP parties coming together to form a Government in the State, the Congress formally shed its earlier hesitation of going with the Shiv Sena and its leaders held first-ever round of talks with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on the sharing of power at a five-star hotel at Bandra-Kurla complex in north-west Mumbai.
Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, senior Congress president Ahmed Patel - who was in the city for a meeting with NCP president Sharad Pawar on issues relating to the Congress-NCP alliance’s proposed tie-up with Shiv Sena - had met Uddhav on Tuesday night and set the tone for the deliberations among the three parties in the coming days.
Uddhav, accompanied by his junior party colleagues Vinayak Raut and Milind Narvekar, met State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat, senior party leaders Ashok Chavan and Manikrao Thakre, at the Hotel Trident for little over 45 minutes.
Talking briefly to mediapersons after the meeting, Uddhav said: “Talks have begun on a right note. I will let you know about the outcome of our talks at a proper time”.
Thorat said he and his senior party colleagues held a “courtesy meeting” with Uddhav, in the context of the deliberations that senior Central leaders had with NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday. “Ours was as courtesy meeting with Uddhavji. First, we would like to arrive at mutual understanding with the NCP on issues relating to the Government. After that, we - both the parties - will meet the Shiv Sena leaders... At today’s meeting, we discussed with Uddhavji as to how move forward,” Thorat said.
Before holding talks with Uddhav, the State Congress leaders - Thorat, Ashok Chavan and Manikrao Thakre - met Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut at the Leelavati Hospital, where Raut was recuperating after an angioplasty carried out on him on Monday night. Raut was discharged from the hospital later in the afternoon.
Though there has so far not been any formula discussion on the power-sharing arrangement among the three parties, a power-sharing formula emerged from the Congress-NCP camp. Under this formula, the Shiv Sena and NCP - which have 56 and 54 MLAs respectively - will share the post of Chief Minister for a period of two and half years each, while the Congress - with a strength of 44 MLAs -- will get the deputy Chief Minister’s post for the entire period of five years. Similarly, the Sena and the NCP will get 14 ministries each, while the Congress will get 11 ministries.
The formula does not throw light on the crucial Speaker’s post. All the three parties are vying for this post, as the Speaker plays a crucial role in the current Assembly in which there may be frequent battles over numbers during the next five years.
Sources in both the NCP and Congress said that they were agreeable to Sena president Uddhav Thackeray being nominated as the Chief Minister of the three-party for the first two and a half years.
Earlier in the day, the NCP and Congress nominated five leaders each for holding meetings and drafting the CMP for the three-party Government. While leaders like Jayant Patil, Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde and Nawab Malik will represent the NCP, the team of the Congress will comprise Balasaheb Thorat, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar and Manikrao Thakre.
Addressing his party’s newly elected MLAs and leaders, Sr Pawar allayed the fears of legislators about the possibility of a mid-term election in the State. “The President’s rule will not come in the way of our Government formation efforts. Be assured that there would not be mid-term elections in the State,” the NCP president said.
Later in the afternoon, all the newly elected MLAs of the Congress left Jaipur for Mumbai, as the party leadership told them that there was no need for them to remain there for more time.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut reiterated that his party’s man will be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Raut, speaking to a regional television channel from his hospital bed, lamented that the Shiv Sena could not prove its majority before the Governor as the Congress and NCP did not give his party their letters of support on time.
Raut said that his party’s Hindutva agenda would not come in the way of the formation of a Shiv Sena-led three-party Government in the State.
Asked if he felt uneasy being at the hospital at a time when there was hectic political activity outside, Raut said: “I am used to doing something or other at all times. I can’t sit idle. Even while in the hospital, I wrote an editorial for the Sena’s official mouth-piece Saamana”.
In a related development, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan alleged the BJP was making desperate attempts to prevent its erstwhile ally Shiv Sena from aligning with his party and the NCP to form a Government in Maharashtra.
