Maharashtra coalition set to stake claim by Saturday

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, November 21

The coalition led by Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress will stake claim to form the government in Maharashtra by Saturday, according to sources in the three parties here.

The coalition, which is likely to be called the Maha Vikas Aghadi, will have number of smaller parties which had fought the last assembly elections with the Congress and the NCP, sources here said. 

Shiv Sena leaders claim that the coalition will have the support of more than

170 of the 288 MLAs in the state assembly with several Independents joining them.

Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan and NCP spokesman Nawab Malik told reporters in New Delhi today that their parties have completed negotiations and they would now give finishing touches to the Common Minimum Programme of the coalition at a meeting with the Shiv Sena leadership in Mumbai.

Sources here confirmed that either Uddhav Thackeray or a senior leader of the Shiv Sena will be the Chief Minister for the full five-year term while the Congress and the NCP will have one Deputy Chief Minister each. 

The Shiv Sena has also agreed to drop its Hindutva agenda, according to sources. The Congress and the NCP leaders have also got the Shiv Sena to agree that its mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ would not carry out attacks on the coalition government, according to senior leaders here.

All the three parties have agreed to share the portfolios in proportion to their representation in the Maharashtra legislature, according to sources here. All the heavy weights of the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress are expected to be included in the cabinet.

The Shiv Sena has already called all its MLAs to Mumbai on Friday where a meeting by party chief Uddhav Thackeray has been convened. The MLAs have been asked to carry their PAN cards and Aadhaar cards in addition to changes of clothes for five days. 

The legislators will be moved to a resort from where they will be paraded before Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari when the party stakes claim to form the government, according to sources here.

The NCP and the Congress too are keeping their flock together ahead of the parade at Raj Bhavan, according to sources.