Post the imposition of the President's rule in Maharashtra, NCP-Congress and the Shiv Sena have reacted. The marathon meetings between these parties have still not come to a concrete end and they are waiting to chalk out a common strategy and discuss modalities to ensure each gets a fair share of the pie.
Mumbai: It seems like the meeting between Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress and the Shiv Sena will so no end soon. The parties have not come to any conclusion as yet as they are waiting for more clarity in terms of forming the government.
Currently, Maharashtra is under President's rule, that was imposed today after getting the approval of the Union Cabinet and the President.
Addressing the media, Congress leader Ahmed Patel and NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that they will decide on a common minimum programme and draw out a strategy with each other first before talking about forming government with the Shiv Sena.
Ahmed Patel said, "We have to first work on our (NCP and Congress) modalities and then think of the alliance with Shiv Sena. Because each must get a fair share of the pie."
Sources say that talks about rotational CM are going on. But among the three, which party will give up on the CM's post is not clear yet.
With Shiv Sena and NCP both having 56 and 54 MLAs each, the question is how Congress with 44 MLAs will bargain for more.
Ahmed Patel also said that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had called Congress leader Sonia Gandhi yesterday and the concerned parties (NCP and Congress) are holding a meeting the very next day. He said that there is no delay on the part of Congress.
Currently, all three parties are exercising caution as none of them want to look like they are power hungry, as it might earn the wrath of the public. They are playing the 'passive gain for power' game.
On the other hand, even BJP is playing the wait and watch game as it possibly wants to break into the alliance and form government on its own, or perhaps prepare for fresh elections.
Meanwhile, speaking to the media, the Shiv Sena said that it has kept its options open, whether it is the Congress-NCP alliance or the BJP.
Answering the query that Shiv Sena did not give time for BJP to discuss the modalities, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that BJP was not ready to align with "our beliefs and modalities".
:BJP ended the alliance and not us," said Uddhav Thackeray.
"BJP fights for Ram Mandir but does not follow in the path of the God of truth - Lord Ram. Isn't Hindutva about following the truth," he said, taking a dig at the BJP with respect to the alleged '50:50" promise.
"Earlier, the Governor refused to give us the much-needed 48 hours time to form the government. Now we have six months (with the imposition of the President's rule) to discuss and arrive at a decision," he said.
Answering the question of forming an alliance with the Congress which has a different ideology he said, "Hindutva will be the main agenda, but alliance, if formed, will chalk out a way to work together, keeping in mind examples of BJP-PDP, BJP-TDP and the likes."
"We need to form a common minimum programme first, I will be reaching out to NCP and Congress in this regard," Uddhav added.
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