Janjivan Bureau / Mumbai : Negotiations between the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress have been stuck over sharing the chief minister’s position. While all the three parties have agreed on the Shiv Sena having its chief minister during the initial part of the five-year term, the NCP and the Congress also want a turn at the position.
“We are still holding talks on the sharing the post of Chief Minister,” NCP leader Nawab Malik told reporters. NCP leader Sharad Pawar too was non-committal on the issue.
“If there is a demand for someone for the post of chief minister, we will discuss it,” Pawar told reporters later in the afternoon.
On the other hand, the Shiv Sena is clear that it will not part with the top job during the term of the government. “Why five years? Maharashtra will have a Shiv Sena Chief Minister for the next 25 years,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told reporters here.
Sources say under a compromise formula being worked out by NCP chief Sharad Pawar, important portfolios in the Maharashtra cabinet like Home, Urban Development, Finance, Revenue and Co-operation are sought to be given to the NCP and the Congress parties. The posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker in the state assembly could also go to the Congress and NCP respectively, according to sources.
Pawar, the architect of the three-party alliance in Maharashtra, told reporters later today that a Common Minimum Programme has been prepared to give a stable government in the state for the next five years. “There is no possibility of a mid-term poll in Maharashtra. The government will complete its full term,” Pawar said.
He added that the drafts of the CMP are now being circulated to the leaders of all the three parties for approval.
“Our focus is on the farmers’ issue and unemployment. We are trying to form the government as soon as possible,” Pawar said.
The NCP chief indicated that there would be no compromise on secularism.
“When the leaders of the Congress and the NCP meet we always talk of secularism. They may have discussed it,” Pawar said in reply to a question about Shiv Sena’s Hindutva politics.
Leaders of the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress will meet Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari at 3 pm tomorrow where they will call for the abrogation of president’s rule in the state. Officially, the meeting has been scheduled to discuss the agrarian crisis in the state.
