Key negotiators of the Maharashtra leadership talks reported no progress for the third consecutive day on Tuesday. "Political mates are still in a stalemate," said an NCP leader.
He said no proposal has been formally mooted by the Congress leadership to break the deadlock. "At their meeting with Sharad Pawar on Monday night, they said the status quo should continue and we said it shouldn't,'' he said.
The Congress, meanwhile, has come up with another argument supporting its claim to the chief minister's office: A senior party leader pointed out that the ticket distribution was on a Congress-plus and NCP-plus basis — meaning that the figures to be taken into account to ascertain the largest party should be the aggregate tally of the claimants and their immediate allies. If this calculation were to be accepted, the Congress-plus tally would be 74 to 72 of NCP-plus. But the calculations that suit one do not suit the other.
It was also apparent that even the proposal — made verbally to Sharad Pawar by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad —- to rotate the chief ministership hadn't made any headway.
If the two parties persist with their positions, the only possible compromise could be over the rotational arrangement as in J&K. The difference is that in Maharashtra, the Congress wants to have the first go at the CM's office.
If the two parties persist with their positions, the only possible compromise could be over the rotational arrangement as in J&K. The difference is that in Maharashtra, the Congress wants to have the first go at the CM's office.