Congress leader KC Venugopal said “The Congress President Sonia Gandhi has spoken to Sharad Pawarji. The party will have further discussions with the NCP,”
Mumbai: After nineteen days have passed there is no sign of government formation in the state of Maharashtra. BJP has already said they might not form the government as they do not have a clear mandate. So now new equations and speculation are created by the ShivSena, NCP, and Congres to form a collective government. The Congress and the NCP before the deadline set by Governor have rejected its plea for three more days to do so.
As many days have passed and the prospect of Presidential rule looms over the state, the Congress appeared not wanting to take a hasty decision to align with its ideological rival and decided to hold further talks with its old ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on the issuing the support to the Sena.
The close sources in the Congress say the party did not issue the letter to support the Sena because when Sonia Gandhi spoke to Sharad Pawar, the NCP supremo maintained that talks with Uddhav on the modalities of the alliance had not been finalized yet. The Congress said that it relies on its ally NCP for mediating and it will only issue letters of support once Pawar gives a green signal
The NCP has been given time till 8.30 pm till today to express “willingness and ability to form the government”. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had asked the Shiv Sena to prove that it has the numbers to stake a claim, hours after its pre-poll partner and longtime ally BJP declined to form the government.
The ShivSena, the second-largest party in the 288-member House with 56 MLAs after the BJP’s 105 members, had time till 7.30 pm to stake a claim yesterday and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and having a telephonic conversation with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The NCP has 54 MLAs while the Congress has 44 with it.
Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray said outside Raj Bhavan in Mumbai after meeting the Governor that his party’s claim on the formation of a government still stands, as two parties have agreed “in-principle” to support the Sena-led government. He didn’t speak about the Congress and the NCP.
Aaditya Thackeray said Governor Koshyari refused to grant more time to the Sena to muster numbers. “We are having talks with the two parties. Both the parties have expressed their support in principle to the Sena,” . “We have also informed the Maharashtra governor about our willingness to stake a claim for government formation. Shiv Sena MLAs have already issued their support in writing,”.
He said the two parties NCP and Congress need few more days to complete their procedures. “We sought time from the governor but he refused to grant it,”.
Another statement from Raj Bhavan said that the Governor “today asked the leader of elected members of the third-largest party, the Nationalist Congress Party, Ajit Pawar to indicate the willingness and ability of his party to form the government in Maharashtra.”
It added that despite the passage of 16 days after assembly elections, no single party or alliance of parties has come forward with requisite letters of support from alliance partners to form the government.
After two major meetings in Delhi, the top brass of the Congress preferred to have detailed discussions with the NCP on the current political impasse amid reports there were differences within the party over extending support to the Sena.
Congress leader KC Venugopal said “The Congress President Sonia Gandhi has spoken to Sharad Pawarji. The party will have further discussions with the NCP,”.
The statement released “The Congress Working Committee met this morning and held a detailed discussion on the situation in Maharashtra after which consultation was held with Maharashtra Congress leaders,”.
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