'NCP-Congress in complete unanimity, now talks with Sena to finalise alliance'
New Delhi/Mumbai: Maharashtra on Thursday appeared headed for a non-BJP dispensation with Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan asserting that his party and the NCP have "complete unanimity" on all issues concerning government formation and will now hold talks with the Shiv Sena to "finalise the architecture of the alliance".
The discussions will now move to Mumbai where the Congress and the NCP will hold deliberations with their other pre-poll allies — Peasants Workers Party, Samajwadi Party, Swabhimani Paksh and CPI(M) — and then with the Shiv Sena, the former Maharashtra chief minister told reporters after another round of talks between senior leaders of his party and the NCP.
Sources said the three parties are likely to make a formal announcement on Friday to join hands to take a shot at power in the state.
The three parties are then likely to send separate letters to the Maharashtra governor mentioning their decision to come together to form a government, said a source.
On Friday, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will address a meeting of party MLAs and senior leaders which is expected to deliberate on the party's line of action in the backdrop of the three main non-BJP parties making efforts to form government in Maharashtra, a party leader said.
Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal will go to Mumbai on Friday for a meeting with the Shiv Sena and the NCP on the modalities of government formation, sources said.
For the better part of this week, the national Capital was the centre of marathon meetings between the Congress and the NCP, including their respective presidents Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar, to work out a suitable formula and ideological harmony before forging an alliance with the Sena, a party whose core Hindutva ideology is poles apart from the duo.
Top Congress leaders Patel, Jairam Ramesh and Kharge, its state leaders Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat and Naseem Khan, and NCP leaders Praful Patel, Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil and Nawab Malik were part of Thursday's meeting.
"The Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress have completed discussions on all issues. There is complete unanimity on all issues," Chavan told reporters.
"Decision will be taken tomorrow on what the architecture of the alliance will be. The final decision will be announced in Mumbai," he said, adding that the announcement of the Common Minimum Programme will clarify all the details of the new government.
