The Congress and the NCP held a marathon meeting to discuss the common minimum program (CMP) to form an alliance government in Maharashtra, saying that no government can be formed without the three parties.

If sources are to be believed, the announcement of government formation in Maharashtra is expected to be made on November 22 (Friday) in Mumbai. On Wednesday after several rounds of parleys between the leaders, the final deal between the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena was sealed at 6 Janpath, the residence of Sharad Pawar, which is just 100m from Sonia Gandhi’s residence. The Congress and the NCP held a marathon meeting to discuss the common minimum program (CMP) to form an alliance government in Maharashtra, saying that no government can be formed without the three parties.

The meeting of the Congress and the NCP leaders that lasted for over three hours at Pawar’s residence was attended by senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Mallikarjun Kharge, K.C. Venugopal, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, and Balasaheb Thorat.

Addressing the media after the meeting, chief NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “We are trying to form a government and that’s why we held discussions. And it is for sure that a government cannot be formed in the state without the three parties,” Malik said.

Chavan, who was also present in the briefing, said, “We had a meeting with the intention of ending the political uncertainty in the state.”

The Congress leader said that the grand old party and the NCP have gone into various aspects of the formation of an alliance in Maharashtra where President’s Rule was imposed on November 12.

When asked if any formula has been made for the government formation with Shiv Sena, Chavan said, “We held discussions on many aspects in a positive manner.”

From the NCP, besides Pawar and Malik, the meeting was attended by senior party leaders Supriya Sule and Ajit Pawar, among others.

Announcement on Maharashtra government in Mumbai on Friday

The three parties are likely to announce the formation of government in Maharashtra on November 22.

The deal to form the government has been finalized on a 50-50 formula, the sources said, adding that the Chief Minister’s post is likely to be shared between candidates of two parties for 2.5 years each, though it is yet to be decided who will be the Chief Minister for the first 2.5 years.

Some sources said that the first half of the tenure may be headed by an NCP Chief Minister which is likely to be either party supremo Sharad Pawar or his daughter Supriya Sule.

The sources also said that a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) has been finalized and it has been signed by the NCP after Sonia Gandhi’s nod.