Amid the ongoing political logjam over government formation in Maharashtra, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday (November 19) met senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, A K Antony and Ahmed Patel in Delhi to hold discussions over forming a coalition government with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Sources told Zee Media that the Congress and NCP leaders from Maharashtra are scheduled to meet in Delhi on Wednesday (November 20) to hold discussions over this matter. It is learnt that the meeting will be held in the presence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi.
Besides Pawar, senior NCP leaders Praful Patel, Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and Jayant Patil are also expected to attend the meeting. Congress leaders K C Venugopal, A K Antony, Kharge and Balasaheb Thorat will also be present during the meeting.
In a related development, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress will form government in the state but it will take time. It may be recalled that on Monday (November 18) Raut had claimed that the new government in Maharashtra will come to power in the first week of December.
"It takes time to form a govt. It's not like it doesn't happen during normal course. You need to go through a lot of processes when it comes to President's Rule," Raut told ANI. Notably, the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena leaders are in touch with each other over forming a coalition government in Maharashtra after the snapping of ties of between BJP and Shiv Sena over the chief minister's post.
The BJP and Shiv Sena contested the October 21 Assembly polls together with the BJP finishing as the single largest party after winning 105 seats. The Shiv Sena ended at second place after winning 56 seats in 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. However, the BJP-Shiv Sena failed to form the government as Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray demanded rotational chief ministerial post, a demand rejected by the BJP. The Congress and the NCP contested the Assembly election as allies with the NCP winning 54 seats, while the Congress bagged 44.
