Pawar meets Sonia, says there were no talks on Maharashtra govt formation

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said that he did not discuss anything about the government formation in Maharashtra during his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and only briefed her about the current political situation in the state.

"We did not talk about forming the government with anyone. We discuss only the political situation. We did not talk about going ahead with someone," Pawar told reporters here when asked if some Congress leaders were not in favour of forming a government with the Shiv Sena.

Pawar said: "I had a meeting with Congress president. AK Antony was also present in the meeting. We discussed the political situation in Maharashtra. She wanted to know about the situation about which I briefed her."

 

"We will monitor the situation. Certain leaders of both (Congress-NCP) parties will meet and discuss further and get back to us. Accordingly, we will decide the future course of action," said Pawar.

Earlier in the day, Pawar had said that "BJP-Shiv Sena fought together, we (NCP) and Congress fought together. They have to choose their path and we will do our politics."

NCP leader Nawab Malik, however, had stated that things will speed up towards the formation of a government in Maharashtra after the meeting.

After Sharad-Sonia meeting, leaders of Congress and NCP will sit down together on Tuesday to discuss the government formation in the state, Malik had added.

The NCP held a core committee meeting at party chief Pawar's residence in Pune on Sunday. Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil and Legislative Party leader Ajit Pawar were among the leaders present in the meeting.

Maharashtra came under the President's Rule earlier this week after all the parties failed to form a government in the state.

BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form the government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with the BJP only to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to garner the support of the required number of MLAs within the deadline set by Governor BS Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which the President's Rule was imposed in the state on Tuesday.

The Shiv Sena is now in talks with the Congress and the NCP to form a government in the state.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.