Mumbai: As the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders ended their talks with each other about joining hands with Shiv Sena in New Delhi on Thursday, the focus of government formation will now shift to Mumbai. The leaders of the NCP and the Congress will meet Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday, after which all three parties will announce their decision on government formation.
Prior to this, Uddhav will hold a meeting of his own party MLAs at his residence in the morning. The MLAs have been asked to come prepared to stay for a few days in Mumbai, which indicates that the party is getting ready to stake claim for the government formation.
Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said that his party and the NCP have completed discussions on all the issues in New Delhi.
“We will discuss with other allies on Friday and then with Shiv Sena before making the announcement of grand alliance in Mumbai. The announcement of the Common Minimum Programme will clarify all the details of the new government. Only after all the issues are discussed and cleared by the three parties, we will meet the Governor to stake claim to form the government,” he said.
Before the talks start with Shiv Sena, the Congress and the NCP will hold deliberations with its pre-poll allies, the Peasants Workers Party (PWP), Samajwadi Party, Swabhimani Paksh and CPI(M).
Sources indicated that the proposed alliance will be called ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’. The Congress is not in favour of a rotational Chief Minister instead it prefers two deputy chief ministers.
