NewDelhi: As Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are all set to form government in Maharashtra, sources on Thursday said that the chief minister’s post is likely to go in Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s kitty while the other two parties have settled for deputy CM’s chair.
Uddhav is likely to be the CM, NCP’s Ajit Pawar and Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat might get become the deputy CMs. There is no official confirmation on the development by either of the parties yet but if sources are to be believed, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leaders want Uddhav to be the CM of ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ (Sena-Congress-NCP’s alliance).
Ajit Pawar is, however, pushing for a rotational CM but as per the deal finalised by the three parties, Shiv Sena will keep the CM’s post for a full five-year term while NCP and Congress will have one deputy chief minister each.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) met on Thursday and granted in-principle approval to the party to form government in Maharashtra along with the NCP and the Shiv Sena. However, a final decision on forming the alliance with Shiv Sena will be taken on Friday.
Apart from Pawar, names of Dilip Walse-Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, Jitendra Awhad, Hasan Mushrif, Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik are being considered by NCP for different ministerial posts.
Congress too is busy preparing its list and the names include the likes of Ashok Shankarrao Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Yashomati Chandrakant Thakur, Vijay Namdevrao Wadettiwar, Vishwajeet Patangrao Kadam, Amit Deshmukh and Manikrao Thakre.
Top Shiv Sena leaders and its MLAs will meet on Friday at Uddhav’s Mumbai home and have been asked to carry with them their official identification documents to deal with a situation where the MLAs are required to be presented before Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
A meeting of NCP leaders will also take place at Sharad Pawar’s residence to discuss the Maharashtra government formation. The NCP leaders are also likely to meet their Congress counterparts and will eventually hold talks with Shiv Sena leaders over portfolio allocation.
Shiv Sena had fought the October election in Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP and the two parties had got the simple majority to form the government. However, they failed to form the government as Sena demanded rotational chief ministerial post, a demand rejected by the BJP.
Maharashtra is currently under President’s Rule.
Bureau Report
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