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Allies say Uddhav Thackeray will be Maharashtra CM for 5 years
Leaders of the three parties met in Mumbai’s Worli for two hours, and decided to hold further talks on Saturday before meeting governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and attempting to form the government.
A coalition of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress appeared set to stake claim to power in Maharashtra with NCP chief Sharad Pawar announcing on Friday that Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray will lead the alliance and be its chief ministerial candidate.
Leaders of the three parties met in Mumbai’s Worli for two hours, and decided to hold further talks on Saturday before meeting governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and attempting to form the government.
Koshyari cancelled a scheduled trip to Delhi over the weekend, said officials, even as the Sena’s former ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), predicted that such a coalition would collapse soon.
“We are unanimous that Uddhav Thackeray should lead the government. Once everything is finalised, the three parties will meet the governor to stake the claim to form the government,” said Pawar, who was the first to step out of the meeting. He also indicated that Thackeray will lead the government for the full five-year term.
Thackeray and his son Aaditya, now a legislator from Worli, came out of the meeting next but evaded questions on the CM’s position. “A few smaller issues are being discussed though the discussions are moving in a positive direction…all three parties will come before you and details will be shared after finalisation,” Thackeray said.
Late in the evening, top Sena leaders went into a huddle to discuss government formation. Senior party MP Sanjay Raut told reporters that Thackeray agreed to become the chief minister but there was no formal confirmation from either Thackeray’s office or the Sena.
If 59-year-old Thackeray formally accepts the position, he will become the first member of the powerful Thackeray family to hold a constitutional position. He is not an MLA and will have to be elected to one of the state’s two Houses within six months of the government being sworn in.
The Congress said details of the alliance arrangement will be discussed on Saturday. “We discussed government formation but the three parties have not reached an agreement on certain issues and talks remain inconclusive,” said former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. “The government architecture will be revealed tomorrow,” he added.
Leaders from the Congress and NCP said there was no consensus yet on the assembly speaker’s post. The Congress and NCP are expected to get one deputy chief minister’s position each.
This was the first time that top leaders of the three parties -- Pawar, Thackeray, and senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge -- sat down together for negotiations.
If the ideologically divergent coalition partners announce a formal agreement on Saturday, it will cap nearly a month of political instability in the state that has been under President’s Rule since November 12.
The crisis began when the October 21 assembly elections threw up a hung assembly, with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party with 105 seats. The Sena got 56 seats, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. Independents and smaller parties won 29 seats. But the Sena walked away from its pre-poll ally, the BJP, over sharing the chief minister’s post and equal distribution of ministerial portfolios.
The halfway mark in the 288-member assembly is 145 and the three parties have a combined strength of 154. A draft common minimum programme focusing on agriculture, healthcare, education and jobs is awaiting a final nod.
The BJP attacked the three parties and said it was keeping a keen eye on the developments. “This attempt to form the government is an insult of the people’s mandate in the state assembly elections. Such a government will not be in the benefit of Maharashtra or its people. And, it will also not last for a long time,’’ said BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari.
All eyes are now on Koshyari, who told the Centre in his report that no party was in a position to form the government. He may seek proof of support from the three parties, and if satisfied with the claim, will start the procedure to withdraw President’s Rule. This process will include sending a report to the Centre.
Once President’s Rule is withdrawn, the chief minister and his council of ministers will be sworn in, and the governor will ask the CM to prove his majority within a stipulated time. A session of the assembly will be held for the floor test.
The developments came hours after a midnight meeting as Thackeray drove to Pawar’s south Mumbai residence late on Thursday night.
At the meeting in Worli, Thackeray was not initially keen on the CM’s position but the NCP and Congress were insistent that the 59-year-old lead the government, said senior leaders from all three parties privy to the negotiations.
“We want Thackeray to be chief minister because it would mean stability to the government… further the decision-making on key issues would be faster since he would be directly responsible for the performance of the government,” said a senior NCP leader on condition of anonymity.
The Congress and NCP are yet to decide who gets the assembly speaker’s position. The Sena and NCP are expected to get 15 portfolios each and the Congress is likely to get 12.
“We have been directed by the central leadership to not compromise on an equal share in power,” said a senior Congress leader after the meeting.
Earlier in the day, Thackeray met his party legislators, many of whom urged him to become the chief minister. “All MLAs have demanded that Uddhav ji should lead the party in the government,” said Pratap Sarnaik, the MLA from Ovala-Majiwada.
